


Keeping Score

by shanahane



Category: Captive Prince - C. S. Pacat
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Auguste (Captive Prince) Lives, Domestic Fluff, Fluff, Hurt/Comfort, Light Angst, M/M, Multi, Nicaise (Captive Prince) Lives
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-09-11
Updated: 2019-06-30
Packaged: 2019-07-11 03:47:16
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 10
Words: 36,375
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15964031
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/shanahane/pseuds/shanahane
Summary: A feel-good Modern!AU in which Auguste is dating Nikandros which leads to Laurent meeting Damen and that means Nicaise might soon have four dads.





	1. Part 1

**Author's Note:**

> This little new universe of mine will be updated every now and then. There will no be any real plot, just some snapshots of their lives.

”Third date, huh? You going to tell him?”

Auguste glanced at Laurent through the mirror. “You know I will,” he replied and wiped the last of the shaving cream off his face.

“And if he’s not okay with it?”

“Then that’s it.”

“That’s it?”

“Laurent.”

“Just making sure.”

Auguste sighed. “If he’s not okay with it then there’s no point, is there?”

“But you like him.”

“I do. Which is why I really hope he’s okay with it.”

Laurent hummed. “Just a t-shirt?” he asked when Auguste picked out a black one.

“Yeah, we’re just going out for coffee.”

“Huh.”

“What?”

“He’s seen the house, right?”

“He has.”

“So, he knows you could take him to all the Michelin places in the city without making a dent to your bank account?”

“Yes.”

“Wow. Well. He just scored a point,” Laurent said, following Auguste out of the room.

“You’re keeping score?”

“Of course.”

“How many points does he have?”

“2.”

“What’s the other point for?”

Laurent smiled. “You like him.”

–

“I, uh… I have to tell you something.”

They had been sitting the in the corner of the café for about an hour when Auguste finally decided to drop the bomb. It was a shame, really, he had enjoyed this date so far, just as much as the first two. Not only was Nikandros easy on the eyes, but he was also easy to have a conversation with.

Auguste really, really hoped that he’d be okay with it.

“You’re married.”

Auguste chuckled. “No.”

“Okay, good. You just sounded so serious. The last two times I was told ‘I have to tell you something’ like that were when Damen first told me he was going to propose to his girlfriend and then called to tell me she fucked his brother and he was going to move in with me.”

“Uh…”

“Right, yeah. Sorry.” Nikandros cleared his throat. “You just really did sound serious. I have a habit of… I don’t know… rambling?”

“It’s okay. So, Damen lives with you?”

“Oh, no, not anymore, all that was about a year ago. His new place is right above mine, though… Might as well have stayed with me, I guess, but it does make dating easier not to have someone much better-looking hanging around your corners.”

“He’s not”

“What?”

“Better looking than you.”

Nikandros huffed. “You’ve met Damen.”

“Yes, I see him almost daily. And I think you underestimate yourself.”

“Are you trying to make me blush? I’m a grown man, I don’t blush.”

“Of course not.”

“Didn’t you have something to tell me?”

For almost 30 seconds, Auguste had forgotten that the fast beating of his heart didn’t have much to do with their playful bantering. He took a deep breath, squeezing his empty coffee cup. “Well. I don’t live alone.”

“The house is huge.”

“Yeah…”

“And?”

“…I share it with my son. And my brother.”

Nikandros blinked. “You have a kid.”

“Yeah. He’s 11.”

“You had a kid when you were 20.” Auguste nodded. “Are you divorced? Not that that matters, I’m just… curious.”

“No, it’s uh… It’s a bit of a story, actually,” Auguste admitted.

“I have time,” Nikandros shrugged. “Unless, of course, you don’t want to tell me which is fine, too.”

“It’s not a secret. His mother really wanted a baby. We were good friends and we were young and I… offered my services,” Auguste explained. “I figured I’d be the cool dad, you know? The kind that doesn’t have many responsibilities but has him every other weekend and takes him to Disneyworld and buys him whatever he wants. I practically raised Laurent – my brother,” he clarified when Nikandros looked confused. “– so being the fun parent was going to be easy.”

“But he lives with you now?”

“He does. His mother died in childbirth.”

“Oh… fuck. I’m sorry.”

“Yeah. My plans changed a bit after that.”

Nikandros nodded slowly. He didn’t say anything for a while and Auguste didn’t try to interrupt his train of thought. He knew that once Nikandros had processed everything, he’d then decide whether to stay or leave, and Auguste took the quiet moment as an opportunity to get ready for both scenarios.

“Can I just ask you something? Sort of personal?” Nikandros asked, his voice breaking the silence.

“Sure.”

“You are from Vere, right?”

“True.”

“And you have a bas… uh… a - a child out of wedlock?”

“Well… It’s not like we’re royalty,” Auguste joked. “But in all seriousness, yeah, it’s still not… preferred, though the people are not as backward about it as they used to be. But we moved to the States when Laurent was still a kid and even my parents were too thrilled to have a grandchild to care that I didn’t marry his mother.”

“That’s good.”

“It is. And listen, I’m sorry I didn’t tell you sooner. I know I should’ve made it obvious from the get-go that I’m a package deal and…”

Nikandros silenced him by putting his hand on top of Auguste’s, catching him off-guard. “Don’t think you have to explain to me why you didn’t tell me about your child. I’m sure you had your reasons and I’m sure they’re perfectly reasonable.”

A warm wash of relief went through Auguste and it came out as a smile. Nikandros smiled, too, and it certainly didn’t look like he was going to bolt out of his chair and run. “Thank you.”

“No need. So, what’s his name?”

–

When Laurent opened the door, he most certainly was not expecting a man the size of a fridge to stand behind it. With a blink, he acknowledged he was an insanely good-looking man the size of a fridge.

“Uh… Am I at the right house?” the man asked, looking from his phone to Laurent.

“That depends,” Laurent said. “Are you delivering Chinese?”

“No?”

“Then I think you might have the wrong house.”

“Huh… Right. I’m looking for Nikandros?”

Laurent’s eyebrows shot up. “Nik’s real name is Nikandros?”

“Oh, this is the right house!”

“Is Nikandros out on a date with Auguste?”

“He is, yes. I have his car, so he asked me to pick him up. I’m a bit early, though. I just wanted to make sure I had the right house because… well, wow! I thought my parents’ house was big, but this is more like a mansion. Anyways, now that I know I’m in the right place, I can go wait in the car. Sorry to have bothered you.”

Laurent let the guy take a few steps before making a split-second decision and calling out: “Wait!” The guy turned around. He was smiling. He had a dimple.

Fuck.

“Auguste texted a while ago that he’s going to be late. He told us to order food. We tend to order way too much so… you’re welcome to share. You’re probably going to have to wait a while.”

The guy frowned and took his phone out of his pocket. “That’s weird, Nik didn’t… Oh. He did. Damn.”

Laurent shrugged. “My offer stands.”

“You’re absolutely sure I wouldn’t be a bother? I can just come back later.”

“It’s fine, come on. The food will be here soon.” He stepped aside to let the guy in. “I’m Laurent.”

“Damen,” the guy said. “Damn, this place is even more impressive on the inside,” he continued. “You live here, too?”

“Yes.”

“Cool. Veretian?” Damen asked, nodding at some of the decorations as he followed Laurent to the kitchen.

Damen recognizing Veretian style did not make him any less attractive and Laurent had to bite his cheek not to show how impressed he was. “Originally, yeah. We moved here when I was four, though. Hey! Nicaise, dinner will be here soon!”

Nicaise was sitting on the kitchen isle, feet hanging in the air and eating chocolate sauce straight out of the bottle. “I’m having dessert first,” he said with a shrug.

“And I’m sure you’ll want dessert after, too.”

“I’m a growing boy. Who’s the brute?”

“He’s a friend of Nik’s. I invited him to share our dinner since your dad’s going to be late. Oh, and hey, you’ll never guess what Nik’s real name is.”

“Nikoangelo.”

“Better. Nikandros.”

“Nikandros?” Nicaise huffed. “Is he Greek?”

“Close,” Damen said. “Akileon. We both are.”

Nicaise frowned. “Aren’t we supposed to hate them?”

“That’s ancient history and you, smart-ass, don’t even have Veretian passport,” Laurent said. “This is Nicaise, by the way. Auguste’s son.”

“I gathered,” Damen said. “I didn’t know Auguste had a son. Nik didn’t say anything, either.”

“He didn’t know, either. He does now, though, and since they’ll be back late, I guess he didn’t run for the hills. That’s another point for him,” Laurent said, the last part directed at Nicaise.

“He’s got 4 now, then.”

“3.”

“No, Dad says he likes dogs. That’s a point.”

“He likes kids, too,” Damen said. Laurent felt a little stab in his gut but masked it with a curious ‘oh?’ “Yeah, I mean. When he talks about future goals, he wants a family. One of our friends has a little daughter and Nik just turns into pudding when she’s around. So… yeah. Auguste having a kid wouldn’t scare him away.”

Laurent felt the corner of his lip pulling upwards. “Well,” he said. “He hasn’t met him yet.”

“Hey. I am perfectly lovable.”

“Mmhm.”

“You love me.”

“I’m obligated.”

“Fuck you. I’ll get it!” Because at that moment, the doorbell rang. “Where’s your wallet?”

“The desk.”

“He uh… He’s a handful, I’m guessing?” Damen said carefully when Nicaise rushed out of the kitchen.

“He’s better when his dad is home. I’m the cool uncle, I can let a few things slide. Beer?”

“I’m driving.”

“Hm. Well, that’s a point to you,” Laurent said. “Water, coke, root beer?”

“Water’s fine. And why would I need points?”

“You never know.”

“Then I’d like to mention that I absolutely love dogs.”

Laurent’s heart made a delighted little jump. It surprised him enough that he was sure his cheeks flushed red and he turned to the fridge to take out two water bottles and a cola for Nicaise. “So…” he said when he turned back to face Damen. “What do you do? For a living?”

“I’m an architect. I work with Auguste, actually. Or, for him,” Damen replied. “That’s how they met. Nik and Auguste.”

“Ah. You’re Damianos.”

“Well, that sounds even sillier than Nikandros,” Nicaise declared before Laurent could explain how he knew Damen’s real name.

“That’s rude,” Laurent chastised. “Was it the cute one?”

“Yup.”

“How much did you tip him?”

“You’ll sleep better if you don’t know.”

“Nicaise…”

“What? He’s a student with a student loan! I did a good deed! When I die, I’ll come back as a noble steed for my good karma!”

Damen laughed out loud at that, causing both Laurent and Nicaise to turn to him. “You can’t argue with that logic.”

Nicaise grinned. “See? Even the brute agrees. Can I eat in the living room?”

“Go ahead.”

Nicaise loaded his plate with a lot more food than he would probably eat and normally Laurent would have told him to leave half of it, and come back if he was still hungry after eating the first half. Now, however, he was strangely glad that Nicaise would most likely stay out of the kitchen for at least half an hour.

”You know about me?” Damen asked when Nicaise was out of sight.

“Auguste has mentioned you, yes.”

“Oh, God. He’s complained about me, hasn’t he?”

“As a matter of fact, I think he’s rather impressed with you.”

Damen whooped. Laurent found it quite adorable and for that, he internally shook his head at himself.

“That’s a relief. I thought him not telling me that he has a son was an indication that I was on some sort of a blacklist,” Damen said.

“That’s not it, trust me. He’s just insanely protective of Nicaise. We both are,” Laurent explained.

“But you invited me in,” Damen pointed out.

“You’re friends with Nik and he’s a good guy so… Yeah, I invited you in.” Not to mention I want to stroke your hair and put my finger in your dimple. Laurent cleared his throat. “Take whatever you want. I like everything.”

Laurent was sure a guy of Damen’s size could eat a whole lot more than what he put on his plate, but he didn’t want to stomp on his subtle way of being polite. They made small talk of Laurent’s history studies and why he hadn’t taken the family route to be an architect. They touched the subject of Damen’s brother taking over their family’s company but Laurent didn’t probe when Damen changed the topic quite quickly. Nicaise appeared at some point to declare he wanted ice cream but was quickly off again with his full bowl to watch what Laurent was quite was not an appropriate movie for a boy for his age.

“I get why you’re fond of him,” Damen said.

“Other than the fact that he’s my nephew?”

“Well, yeah. I know lots of people who couldn’t give a rat’s ass about their nephews.”

“Hm. Me, too.”

“So I think it’s cool, you know. This little family unit that you have going on. You’ve clearly made it work,” Damen said, smiling.

“We have. Which is why we’re very careful about who we let in it,” Laurent said.

“Nik’s a good guy, I swear.”

“I believe you. Are you?”

Damen’s expression changed. “What do you mean?”

“Well, you already scored a point since you absolutely adore dogs,” Laurent said, quoting Damen from earlier. “And you’ve managed to score a few more in a very short amount of time if you’d be interested in… taking advantage of that.”

“You’re the younger brother of my boss,” Damen said. “We really should just stay friends.”

“Friends. Is that what you want?”

“I work for your brother, Laurent.”

“He won’t mind. If you really are a decent person, he’ll probably encourage it,” Laurent said. “Just tell me, if Auguste wasn’t your boss, would you hesitate?”

Damen shook his head, no. “I’d have already asked you out.”

“Then ask me out.”

Damen took the tiniest step forward. Laurent’s felt a thrill go through him, and that was a new, exciting feeling that he really wanted to explore.

“Will you go out with me?”

“Yes,” Laurent replied right away. “I just – I don’t have the option to hide my family from you anymore, so to speak. So before a… date? turns into anything more, I have to make absolutely sure that you are in fact a good guy. You’ll have to patient with me. I’m telling this to you now because we’ve known each other for 20 minutes and it’ll be less awkward for you to just decline and walk away. I won’t be easy. In any aspect of dating. Even this – what we’re doing now - is actually foreign ground for me.”

Laurent took a deep breath after his little speech, sure that his cheeks were flaming. Damen was smiling so that his dimple was very visible, and Laurent swore he could drown in those eyes.

“I’ll do my best to make sure you never have to doubt that I’m a good guy. How’s that sound?” he asked.

“That sounds… great. Great.”

“Good. A date, then? Dinner?”

“Yeah, that…”

“I’m home! Where are you, there’s someone I… Oh. Hi, Damen!”

Auguste came into the kitchen then, with Nikandros behind him. He paused to take in the two plates on the kitchen counter and raised his eyebrows at Laurent in silent question. Laurent shrugged but failed to keep the tiny smile off his face.

“Damen didn’t see Nik’s text until he was already here, so I invited him to share the food,” he said, opting for the truth as an explanation. “Nicaise is watching something R-rated in the living room.”

“I’ll throw you under the bus if his teachers complain about his language again.”

“Of course.”

“Anyways, uh… Laurent. Meet Nik. Officially,” Auguste said, stepping aside a little so that Laurent could shake hands with Nikandros. “Nik, this is Laurent.”

“Nice to meet you,” Nikandros said politely.

“Likewise,” Laurent replied. He did smile, but at the same time he hoped his eyes communicated that even though he was the younger brother, he’d have no problem kicking Nikandros’ ass should the need arise. To his benefit, Nikandros seemed to understand, as he offered a little nod as an assurance.

During their silent exchange, Auguste had brought Nicaise back to the kitchen. The boy was still a little small for his age and looked even smaller next to his dad, who competed with Damen in size. Quite a lot of his confidence had been left on the couch, and he pressed himself close to Auguste as Nikandros offered his hand.

“Nicaise, this is Nik. You’re going to see a lot of him from now on,” Auguste said, putting his hand thought Nicaise’s curls.

Nicaise stayed silent for a moment, eyeing Nikandros suspiciously. When he finally spoke, what he said was: “Damen’s real name is sillier than yours.”

Auguste made a sound to probably scold Nicaise, but it died when Nikandros just burst into laughter, which scored him another point in Laurent’s book.

“It is, isn’t it?” (“Hey!”)

“If you ever move in here, can we get a puppy?”

“We’ll make it our mission to make your Dad agree.”

“Okay. Can I go now?” Nicaise asked Auguste.

“Yeah. But you won’t finish that movie!” Auguste called after him as Nicaise disappeared. “He’ll warm up,” he said to Nikandros.

“That’s better than what I dared to hope. I thought he’d lock himself inside his room,” Laurent said.

“It’s a win, then?” Nikandros asked.

“Definitely,” Auguste confirmed. “Well, I guess we shouldn’t keep Damen waiting any longer.”

“There’s still food,” Laurent hurried to say. “You didn’t have dinner, right? You can finish this and we’ll… we’ll give you a little while longer? To… finish… your date?”

Auguste took the hint before Nikandros, who was frowning now, did. “Are you hungry?” he asked, and Nikandros blinked.

“I could eat.”

“Great! We’ll be…” somewhere you can’t see us “…in the garden.”

Laurent only stopped to turn the TV off (which earned him an “oh, come on!) because Nicaise hadn’t obeyed Auguste and led Damen out to the backyard and to the small, secluded area behind some rose bushes where he liked to read. The bushes were also conveniently tall so that they could not be seen from the first floor of the house.

“Did you turn their first date into our first date?” Damen asked, amused.

“We’ll call this a pre-date?” Laurent offered. He was a little breathless.

“I’ve never had one. What does it entail?”

“I was thinking… if you don’t mind… a kiss? Because I think I might panic and it’s better to get it out of the way now so that it doesn’t ruin our actual…”

“Why would you panic?”

Laurent paused, realizing that little slip was quite a lot more than what he wanted to reveal to someone who was still practically a stranger.

This once, however, he chose not to turn back and retreat.

“Not now,” he said instead of fleeing. “Maybe… one day, okay?”

“Okay.” Damen pushed a strand of Laurent’s hair behind his ear. It was such a gentle touch, unlike what Laurent would expect of someone of Damen’s stature, and that in itself was strangely assuring. “I’ll kiss you now. Just push if you don’t want it.”

He was tall, so tall, but Laurent didn’t feel any fear as he closed the distance between them, slowly, giving Laurent every chance to change his mind.

Laurent didn’t, and Damen’s lips were so soft he almost moaned.

And that’s the beginning of how Nicaise suddenly had basically four dads.


	2. Part 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Nicaise, and the discussions he has in the car with the four people that pick him up from school.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hope you like it :) 
> 
> WARNING!! (spoilerish) This chapter has subtle hints about canon compliant child abuse. It is NOT discussed, but it is clear that it happened. 
> 
> I did try to clear any typos. I do apologize if I left any (...wow. my customer service side is shining through I see xD )

“Hey! Are you off already?”

Laurent smiled at the clear delight in Damen’s voice. “Sadly, no. Samantha’s kid has a fever, I’ll have to cover for her until the library closes.”

“Shit.”

“Yeah. Listen, could you do me a favor?”

“Anything, sweetheart.”

“Could you pick Nicaise up from school? His fencing class ends in 15 minutes and I obviously won’t make it.”

“Auguste is still out of town?”

“He comes home on Monday. I’d tell Nicaise to wait by the swings or something but it’s pouring, and they close the school after fencing class ends.”

“Do you want to me stay until you come home?”

“Well… You don’t have to leave when I come home.”

“I don’t?”

Damen was grinning now, Laurent knew. “It’s Friday.”

“It is.”

“Does Nicaise have a bedtime?”

“Officially, yes.”

“So, we’ll tell him to go to bed.”

“You’re welcome to try.”

“I can be persuasive.”

“I’m sure. So, you’ll pick him up then?”

“I’m already in the car.”

Of course he was. If Laurent would admit to still keeping a score, Damen just scored another point. “Thank you. I owe you one.”

“Oh, don’t be silly.”

“Don’t you want to know how I’d pay you back?”

The short silence at the other end was answer enough. “When you put it that way…”

Laurent chuckled. “I’ll be home by 6:30. Feel free to eat anything from the fridge. You can just let Nicaise watch TV or play something, I’ll check that he does his homework. Just make sure it’s age-appropriate, Auguste is still not happy about the SAW incident.”

“He totally tricked me!”

“I know, darling.”

“It’s easy for you to think I’m an idiot, you’re immune to him.”

“Mmhm.”

“I can still turn around and go home.”

“You won’t.”

“…I won’t. See you at 6:30?”

“Yeah.”

“Great. Love you!”

Laurent’s heart made a somersault in his chest. He replied with a quiet “You, too,” before hanging up.

Soon, he told himself. Soon he’d be able to really say it.

He knew that Damen knew that he felt it. Hearing the words wasn’t important to his too-good-to-be-true boyfriend.

Still, Laurent wanted to say it. He would.

Soon.

Sighing, Laurent sat back down behind his desk. He sent Nicaise a text to tell him that Damen would pick him up, ending it with ‘behave’. Nicaise sent back an eye-rolling emoji.

Laurent could only hope that meant that of course he would.

\--

“Hey, kid! How was your day?”

The other kids ran through the rain to the cars that waited for them in the pick-up area. Damen was right by the door, holding an umbrella that was big enough for at least 3 to fit under it.

“You don’t have to try to score points anymore,” Nicaise said but stayed under the umbrella as they hurried to the car.

“I’d still rather you didn’t get sick under my watch. Hey!” Damen said when Nicaise went to open the front door. “I may have let you watch SAW but I know you’re not allowed in the front seat yet.”

“Worth a try,” Nicaise shrugged and climbed to the back without further arguments. “Did Laurent tell you to check my homework?”

“He said he’ll do it. You can watch TV until he comes home.”

“Cool.”

“Disney channel only, though,” Damen said as he started the car. “I’m not falling for your tricks again.”

“Disney channel is for children.”

“You _are_ a child.”

“People tend to think that, because of my age.”

Damen shook his head, laughing. “I see, so you’re an old soul, huh?”

“Yes.”

“Right.”

Nicaise drew a figure on the foggy window with his finger. “How much do you like Laurent?”

Damen glanced at Nicaise through the rearview mirror. “Well, this conversation certainly took a turn.”

Nicaise narrowed his eyes. “Answer the question.”

“I like him a lot. A whole damn lot.”

“Do you love him?”

They stopped at a traffic light. Damen turned around on his seat. “I do.”

“And you’ve told him?”

“I have.”

“Good.”

“Are you always this protective of your uncle?” Damen asked as the light turned green again.

“Maybe.”

“You know, your dad has already threatened to… uh… cut a very valuable part of me if I hurt Laurent. You don’t have to worry,” Damen said.

“That may be true but if he ever had to do that, he’d have to consider the fact that his boyfriend is your best friend which means his boyfriend might be on your side.”

There was something about Nicaise’s tone that made Damen frown.

“There’s no universe in which your dad would be on anyone’s side except Laurent’s, despite whose side Nikandros was on,” he said.

“Even if you’re clearly right and he’s clearly wrong?”

“I honestly can’t imagine that ever being the case. But in any case, I’m not going to hurt Laurent. I’m planning on sticking around for a really long time.”

“Mm.”

Damen chanced another glance at Nicaise through the mirror. His boyfriend’s nephew was still, after almost 8 months, a bit of a mystery to him. He did have a halo of maturity about him, and he hid his young vulnerability very successfully around everyone but Auguste and Laurent.

Whether he was getting to know Nicaise a bit better or Nicaise was no longer trying so hard to remain stoic around him, Damen didn’t know, but at that moment he could sense what Nicaise was worried about.

“Nicaise, you three are a unit. Nikandros and I won’t change that.”

“Of course you will.”

“Not in a way that matters. You’re like… the center of the unit. We’re the outer circles.”

“That doesn’t make much sense.”

“Anyway, what I’m trying to say is that: I won’t hurt Laurent. And if I did, Auguste would rightfully kick my ass. Butt!”

“You’ve heard me say fuck, Damen.”

“Right, well. My point is…” Damen paused. “I did have a point, I swear.”

“We’re a unit.”

“Yes! No matter what, you’ll always have each other’s backs. There’s absolutely no way in the world we’ll somehow make a wedge between you and them. We don’t want to and they won’t let that happen. You know that, right?”

Nicaise was quiet for a little while. Damen didn’t push and kept his eyes on the road as the boy collected his thoughts.

“Yeah,” he finally said. “Do you ride?”

Damen decided not to comment on the quick subject change and they spent the rest of the drive talking about Nicaise’s grandparents’ horses.

\--

“Hey, buddy!”

One thing Auguste knew he’d never grow tired of was Nicaise’s smile. His son looked up from his phone when he heard his greeting, and his face lit up like a Christmas tree before he sprinted the short distance to Auguste’s arms.

“Hey!” Auguste laughed. “Did you miss me?”

“No,” Nicaise said, his words muffled against Auguste’s shirt. “I thought you were coming home with the evening flight.”

“Well, you may be cold-hearted, but I missed _you_. So, I got an earlier flight home. Turns out money is good for some things,” Auguste said. “Come on, let’s go home. I want to hear all about your week.”

The ride home started with Nicaise telling him about his school week, how his teacher had complimented him on his French skills and how math sucked and who needed it anyway.

“We can hire a tutor for you if you want,” Auguste suggested.

“Damen tried. I forked him.”

“You what?”

“I stabbed him with a fork.”

“Nicaise…”

“Laurent already grounded me for that.”

“…Laurent? Grounded you?”

“He sent me to my room without dessert. On Saturday.”

“Wow, what a severe punishment.”

“He didn’t even bleed.”

“That’s good and you’ll never do that again. Is that clear? He was just trying to help you.”

Nicaise sighed. “I know. I apologized.”

“Good.”

“Dad?”

“Yeah?”

“Are we a unit?”

“Who?”

“You, me, and Laurent.”

Auguste shrugged. “Sure, yeah. I guess you could call us that.”

“Damen called us that.”

“He did?”

“Yeah. He picked me up on Friday when Laurent had to work late. He said the three of us are a unit and we’d always have each other’s backs.”

“He was right.”

“But Laurent punished me.”

“For hurting his boyfriend. I would have punished you, too.”

“How is that having each other’s backs?”

“Having each other’s backs doesn’t mean you can get away with pulling stuff like that when you’re upset.”

“Well, then I don’t get it.”

“If Damen had deserved being stabbed with a fork then Laurent would have probably done it himself. That’s what having each other’s back means.”

“I guess,” Nicaise admitted.

“I had to ground Laurent quite a few times when he was a teenager,” Auguste said. “He still knows I’m in his corner, always.”

“You had to ground him?”

“Yes.”

“Why?”

“He’ll tell you himself if he wants. When you’re a bit older.”

“Ugh, why do I have to be older to do everything?” Nicaise complained. “When can I sit in the front?”

“When you reach the required height and weight.”

“But I’m small for my age.”

“You’ll be big enough soon, I promise,” Auguste said.

“Do you always have to be so responsible?”

“I let you curse.”

“Only at home.”

“Well, the ironic thing is, when you curse at school, I sort of get in trouble, too. They think I taught those words to you. And the fact that you learned them from a movie you were not supposed to watch in the first place does not make me look any better.”

“But you’re almost like a single dad of two. They can’t expect you to control everything!”

Auguste blinked. “A single dad of two?”

“Well… yeah? You just said you had to ground Laurent.”

“…yeah. But I wasn’t officially responsible for Laurent until he was 14.”

“14? I thought grandma and grandpa died when he was 13.”

Shit.

“They did.”

“Did he go somewhere?”

Fuck.

“That’s… that’s another thing he might tell you when you’re older.”

“Dad!”

“No, really, Nicaise, this is not something we’re going to argue about. And you won’t ask him about it either, okay?”

Auguste turned the car to their road, silently kicking his own ass for his slip-up.

“Okay.”

Nicaise’s answer was quiet but steady. Auguste knew he was not lying.

“Did you bring me anything?”

“Why do you think I took my big suitcase with me?”

Nicaise whooped.

\--

Nikandros didn’t even step out of the car before Nicaise pulled the door open and climbed in. He slammed the door shut and it was evident immediately that he was in a foul mood.

“Bad day?”

“Mm.”

“Want to talk about it?”

“No.”

“Okay. Any music preferences?”

“Whatever.”

“Okay then.”

Nikandros kept the volume of the music low, but he knew Nicaise well enough by now not to try any small talk. Nicaise had his arms crossed on his chest and he was pouting through the window as if traffic was personally offending him.

They were more than halfway home when Nicaise decided to shock Nikandros with:

“Will you and Dad get married?”

Nikandros was quite proud of the fact that he managed to keep them on the road. “Uh… I don’t know. We haven’t talked about it. Maybe?”

“But you _are_ moving in?”

“I am,” Nikandros confirmed. “Is that what you’re upset about?”

“No,” Nicaise said. Nikandros was surprised he didn’t outright deny being upset.

“Are you sure?”

“Yes. It’s fine. You’re there all the time anyway.”

“Okay. Well… good.”

Nicaise kicked the back the shotgun seat. “You make Dad happy.”

“I hope I do,” Nikandros smiled. “He makes me happy, too.”

“There’s nothing wrong with that.”

“No. No there’s not.”

“There’s not,” Nicaise mumbled. “In ancient Vere people would not have cared.”

 “They might have had something to say about how Gus is Veretian and I’m Akileon.”

Nicaise shrugged. “They were one kingdom, once.”

“You like history?”

“I like proving people wrong. History helps with that.”

“So you take after your uncle, then.”

“I hate math. I can’t be an architect. The only numbers I have to learn in history are dates.”

“That’s true,” Nikandros said. After a moment of consideration, he decided to poke the ice. “Your friends in school. They care that your dad has a boyfriend?”

Nikandros was still a very new figure in Nicaise’s life. They had only hung out alone a handful of times, and Nikandros had a lot to learn about how to handle the boy, and his moods. Nikandros liked Nicaise, one could even say he was fond of him. He also knew his relationship with Auguste would have ended months ago if Nicaise had shown any signs that he didn’t like Nikandros.

That being said, Nikandros wasn’t sure if they were ready for the conversation he had started. He knew he most likely would not get an answer, at least not a direct one. He fully expected that Nicaise would either close off or snap at him and made a mental note to tell Auguste to talk to him.

What Nicaise said, however, was: “They’re not my friends. They’re… idiots.”

“Have you talked to a teacher?”

“They’re not hitting me. Teachers won’t care.”

“I thought this was a zero tolerance for bullying school.”

“All schools are zero tolerance on paper.”

“…sometimes it’s really hard to believe you’re barely 12.” Nicaise huffed. “Your dad would huff and puff the school to the ground to get them to stop.”

“I don’t want to upset him.”

“He’s your dad, Nicaise. He’d be more upset to hear that you’re being bullied if he hears it from someone else.”

“You’re going to tell him?”

“I’m sorry if that makes me uncool but I care about you, too, and if you’re being bullied, it needs to stop. I’ll even help your dad to knock down the school.”

Nicaise opened his mouth, but no words came out. He sat back on his seat, and Nikandros could feel his gaze burn into the back of his head.

“Huh. Okay, then,” the boy finally said and Nikandros was pretty sure he scored a point. “Wait… You call Dad _Gus_?”

And lost one, too, apparently.

\--

“Laurent?”

“Hmm?”

“Does it bother you that I don’t call you ‘uncle’?”

Laurent couldn’t help the way his body jerked, causing the car to make a small sharp turn.

“…Laurent?”

“Sorry. Hiccups,” Laurent said, quite sure Nicaise didn’t buy it. “Why do you ask?”

“We’re making a family tree for history class. I marked you as ‘uncle’ obviously, and realized I’ve never called you that.”

“Well, I uh… I was only 10… maybe 11 when you started talking. It would have been weird for you to call me uncle, I think. So it never stuck,” Laurent said.

“But does it bother you now that you’re older?”

“No,” Laurent said immediately. “No, I’m happy being just Laurent. I wouldn’t get used to ‘uncle Laurent’ anymore.” He flashed Nicaise a smile through the mirror that he hoped was more convincing than ‘hiccups’. “I can help you with that tree, by the way. I’ve done a lot of research on our family history.”

Nicaise sounded unphased about the change of subject when he said: “Cool. Any royalty?”

“As a matter of fact, yeah. Way, way back in ancient history but they were quite influential.”

“Okay, why wasn’t I aware of this before?”

They spent the last of the ride discussing how a young king of Vere had once married the king of Akileos, thus starting a long period of peace that had lasted until their family line had finally been removed from the throne centuries later, and the kingdoms had once again been separated. They were home before Laurent could explain how the marriage had come about, and Laurent smiled when he saw Nik’s car on the driveway.

“Damen and Nik are home.”

“They are? I thought they said they’d be back tomorrow.”

“We all did. Because we have a surprise for you.”

“A surprise? What, why did… No way. No. Way!”

The car had barely come to a stop before Nicaise leaped out. Auguste, Damen, and Nik were waiting for him on the front yard, and so was a golden retriever puppy with a green bow tie around his neck.

“It’s mine? You got me a dog?”

He was already on his knees on the grass, giggling as the puppy sniffed his ears.

“We did,” Auguste confirmed. “Now, we’re going to help you with him but he’s your responsibility, okay? You’re going to train him and you’re going to take him out after school. If you think he’s sick, you’ll tell us immediately and you will not feed him your food under the table. Nicaise, are you listening?”

“I am, I am,” Nicaise said, laughing. “What’s his name?”

“He’s yours,” Damen said. “You name him.”

“Well, apparently we’re royalty after all so his name is Prince,” Nicaise declared. “Come on, Prince. Come on!”

And off they ran to the fenced back yard. Laurent watched them go with a fond smile on his face and circled his arm around Damen’s waist. Damen hugged him to his side.

“How did you decide which one?” Laurent asked.

“It was so hard. I wanted to bring them all home,” Damen sighed. “Nicaise wanted a puppy, though, so we picked one of the youngest ones. This one only warmed up to us after a couple of hours of just sitting with him. That reminded us a little of Nicaise so… yeah.”

“Hm.” Laurent moved so that he and Damen were face to face. “Maybe we can go back and adopt one of the older ones?”

Damen’s eyes widened. “Really?”

“Sure. Just because they’re old doesn’t mean they don’t deserve a nice home.”

“I love you so much.”

Laurent smiled. “I love you, too.”


	3. Part 1.5

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Nikandros is moving in with Auguste and Laurent is moving in with Damen. Or that, at least... is the plan.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> At this point I'd like to point something out about my writing: I have not written fiction in a LONG time, especially not multi-chapters. This was supposed to be a oneshot but it started to to grow, and I am sort of experimenting different styles. So if and when I continue and my styles changes in different chapters, I apologize. 
> 
> Also, the timeline in this story might not always be logical. I will do my best to clearly point out where the chapter fits in the story.
> 
> Enjoy!

“I need to talk to you.”

They said it at the same time, causing both to pause. “You first,” Auguste chuckled and sat down on the couch.

“No, you go ahead,” Laurent replied.

“Okay, well. How would you feel if Nik moved in?”

“Feels like he already has, to be honest,” Laurent said as he sat down, too. “Might as well make it official. At least Damen won’t have to bring him his mail anymore.”

“So, you’re fine with it?”

“Yeah, sure, I mean… actually, that’s what…” Laurent cleared his throat. “Damen asked me to move in with him.”

Auguste raised his eyebrows. “Really?”

“Well, his exact words were ‘we should totally live together’ but that’s the most logical option, isn’t it? That I move in with him.”

“And you’re nothing if not logical,” Auguste said. “Do you want to move? In with him and… leave the nest, so to speak?”

Laurent sighed, looking around their spacious living room. Their dad’s armchair was still in the corner and their mom’s bookshelf was practically untouched. Nicaise had picked out the couch they were sitting on when he was 7, his main criteria being that it was comfortable. It was too soft for Laurent’s liking, but he had never complained. This is where Laurent had learned to read and Nicaise had learned to walk. This was where Auguste had received the news about being accepted to his dream university. This was home.

“I want to live with him,” Laurent finally said. “All the cliché stuff, I want them all. Waking up together, coming home to him, hearing him yell “I’m home!”. Cooking together. It all sounded so boring to me, but with him, it’s… what? Why are you laughing?”

“I’m not laughing, Lou,” Auguste said. “I’m just so happy you found him.”

Laurent blinked because for a moment it looked like Auguste was close to tears. “Yeah. Me, too.”

“It’s a little heart-breaking, though,” Auguste admitted. “It’s going to be hard, getting used to you not being here.”

“I’ll probably be here all the time,” Laurent chuckled.

“Have you told Nicaise?”

Laurent’s heart sank. “No.”

“Want me to be there?”

“Yes.”

“Okay then.”

“Do you think he’ll hate me?”

“You’re his best friend, Laurent. I’m not saying he won’t be upset, but he’d never hate you.”

“Mm. I hope you’re right.”

* * *

"When are we getting the puppy?”

“I have not agreed yet.”

“But Nik wants one, too!”

“Nik’s still trying to win you over. He’ll agree with you on anything.”

“No, he doesn’t. He thinks the Solo movie is better than Rogue One.”

“He’s allowed to have his opinions.”

“Rogue One being better is not an opinion, it’s a _fact_. You know, like how children benefit from having a dog is also a fact.”

“They do, huh?”

“Uh-huh. I’ve Googled a bunch of stuff.”

“Well, I must say that I am impressed by your dedication. But I will not agree until I am absolutely certain I will not end up being the only one taking it out.”

“Dad! It’ll be my dog! I’ll take it out! Nik will take it out! Laurent will take it out when he’s not too busy blushing at Damen! You’ll never even have to hold the leash!”

“Uh, actually…” Laurent cut in. “There’s - there’s something I need to tell you.”

“Damen’s moving in, too?” Nicaise guessed before Laurent had a chance to continue. “See, Dad, we’ll all take the dog out! And you’ll fall in love with it, too, I swear!”

“Nicaise,” Laurent said. “I’m moving out.”

That caused Nicaise to pause. “What?”

“I’m moving in with Damen. To his place.”

Nicaise blinked. “To his place. In the city.”

“It’s just half an hour away,” Laurent said quickly. “You can come over any time you want, and I’ll be here so much that you’ll barely notice that anything’s changed. The biggest difference will be that, you know, I’ll no longer sleep in my old room. At least most nights.”

Nicaise was biting his lip. After a long moment of silence, Auguste asked: “Are you okay?” but instead of answering, Nicaise left the kitchen so quickly he was almost running.

“Nicaise… Nicaise, hey, wait!” Laurent called, chasing after him. He almost ran into the door of Nicaise’s room as it slammed shut right to his face, and he took a few seconds to steady his breath before knocking softly and entering. “Nicaise, please. Just listen…”

“No!” Nicaise was lying on his bed, face buried in his pillow. “No, just go! Go to Damen! Live in the stupid city and leave me alone!”

His heart breaking, Laurent sat down on Nicaise’s bed. “You’re still my number 1.”

“No, I’m not.”

“Yes, you are. To me, and your Dad, you’ll always be in number 1.”

“Then why are you going away?”

“I’m moving in with Damen. That’s not the same as going away.”

“It is!”

“No, it’s not. It’s… Nicaise, turn around. Please.”

Slowly, sniffing, Nicaise turned to lie on his back. “You won’t be here.”

“Not all the time, no. But I wasn’t here all time before, either, and you were fine.”

“Yeah, but… You always came home. This is home. _Our_ home. Now your home will be somewhere different. Now you’ll… now you’ll just visit. And you’ll _leave_.”

Laurent swallowed. “Has your dad ever told you how I threw the biggest tantrum the day before he left for college?”

“…no?”

“Well, I did. I was 8 and I thought he was leaving me forever. It took him hours to calm me down. When I finally did calm down enough to listen, he promised me he’d always come back. And guess what?”

“What?”

“He did. As will I. I might leave to go home to my new home with Damen, but I will always, _always_ come back. Okay? I promise. And we don’t break promises in this family.”

“What if I need help with history?”

“Then you call me.”

“In the middle of the night, even?”

“Whenever you want. I told you, you’re my number 1.”

“What if you have kids?”

“That’s… unlikely but if I do, then I’ll make the podium bigger so that you can all be number 1.”

Nicaise’s mouth twitched. “It’s going to be strange.”

“I know.”

“What if I have to kick Nik’s ass?”

Laurent couldn’t help but laugh. “You ask a lot of ‘what if’s.” When Nicaise pouted, he added. “If you ever feel the need to kick Nik’s ass then I’m sure he’s deserved it.”

“He _is_ helping me get a puppy.”

“Yeah.”

“Will you help me name it?”

“Of course.”

“Okay.” Slowly, NIcaise moved so that he was practically on Laurent’s lap. “I’ll be fine,” he said before Laurent even asked.

Barely keeping his own tears at bay, Laurent wrapped his arms around his nephew and hugged him close.

* * *

The night before Laurent was to move, Auguste woke up – for the first time in 7 years – to Laurent sneaking into his bed.

At 21, Laurent was far from the lithe boy he had been, but somehow he still fit under Auguste’s arm. Maybe it should have felt awkward, maybe it _was_ a little awkward, but they didn’t say anything. They both needed this, this little moment from years ago before their new chapters would begin.

So Auguste let Laurent stay. They both fell back to sleep quite quickly, only to woken up again when Nicaise joined them, forcing his way between them.

“You can have the puppy,” Auguste mumbled into his curls, half asleep.

“I know,” was the reply.

* * *

”Okay. All packed. Now we just have to carry everything to the car,” Laurent announced.

“How are you planning to take the piano?” Auguste asked.

“Oh, I can’t take it with me. It won’t fit anywhere.”

“You’re leaving it here?”

“Trust me, my heart is bleeding. But it’s a one-bedroom place so it was either the piano or the books. Between those, it wasn’t a hard decision. But we’re already looking for a bigger place,” Laurent said.

“Or Damen could move here.”

All four men turned to look at Nicaise, who was stirring his chocolate milk with a straw. His face was carefully blank as if his suggestion was something between a casual remark and a joke, but his tone had given away more than he probably guessed.

“Hey. We talked about this. You said you were fine,” Laurent said.

Nicaise shrugged. “It just seems stupid. That you’d move there and then move again in a few months. We all fit here just fine.”

“Well, sure, we do. But…” Laurent paused because really, he couldn’t think of a but. “But… we… Damen,” he said, slapping his boyfriend lightly on the arm. “You say something.”

“Hm? What?”

“Something rational.”

“Like what?”

“Like how you want us to have a place of our own, so you don’t have to hear Nikandros have sex every night.”

“We don’t have sex every night,” Nikandros said.

“Fine, well, when you do, I’m sure you don’t want us to be in the next room,” Laurent said.

“We were already planning on moving to the master bedroom,” Auguste said. “It’s bigger and it’s been empty long enough. And that way Nicaise can have the room with the balcony.”

“Why would Nicaise get the room with the balcony?”

“Because Dad and I made a deal.”

“Why wasn’t I included in the deal making?”

“Because you were moving out.”

“Right. Right, yeah. And I’m still moving out.” Laurent turned to Damen. “Aren’t I?”

“I’m fine with anything,” Damen said. “It’s up to you.”

“I’ve already packed!”

“It’ll give us a chance to redecorate your room,” Damen smiled. “And we’d save a ton of money.”

“Yes, because saving money is something we have to be concerned about,” Laurent huffed, gesturing around the undeniably huge kitchen. “You realize you’d live with your boss.”

“Only until I win the court case. And I will win it,” Damen said.

“Then you’d be living with the competition.”

“Unless we merge,” Auguste put in. “Which would be a completely sensible thing to do in this situation.”

“And you wouldn’t have to give up the piano,” Damen said.

Laurent just looked between Damen and Auguste, unable to form a coherent thought. Finally, he blurted out: “Nik.”

“I’m not kicking you out of your own home,” Nikandros said immediately. “If you want to stay then that’s fine. Damen and I already know we can live together. And you’re a better cook than Auguste anyway.”

“Hey!”

“Sorry, but you know it’s true.”

“Please, Laurent,” Nicaise said then. His glass of chocolate milk was still full. “Please stay. You can have the room with the balcony.”

“I…”

“Laurent,” Damen said. “I know you want to.”

“We all do,” Auguste agreed.

“It’ll be fun,” Nikandros added.

“Please?”

Laurent sighed. In relief or defeat, he wasn’t sure. “I will not cook every day.”

Nicaise jumped off his chair and all but leaped into his arms with a whoop of triumph.


	4. Part 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Auguste doesn't always feel like the best parent in the world.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm on my honeymoon! :D It's raining, though, so here you are :P
> 
> WARNINGS! Uncle appears. NOTHING is dicussed graphically but it is obvious that canon violence has occured.

Auguste heard the light tap-tap of Laurent’s steps but did not move or open his eyes. A few seconds later he felt Laurent press against his side and let out a shuddering breath he felt like he had been holding for hours.

Laurent didn’t say anything for the first few minutes. He played with Auguste’s sleeve, and the familiarity of it was oddly soothing.

“Mom told me to find you.”

“Mm.”

“She’s with the baby. So is Dad.”

“Good.”

“I saw him, too.”

“Yeah?” Auguste finally opened his eyes and turned to look at Laurent. “What did you think?”

“He’s a baby. He’s pink and wrinkly but Mom says he’s the most precious thing so I guess he’s cute in some way,” Laurent said with a shrug. “Have you seen him?”

Auguste sighed. “Only for a second. Right after… after he was born. But then…” He shook his head, fighting back tears. “Everything went to hell.”

Laurent’s fingers closed around Auguste’s wrist. “Dad said Katie is dead.”

“She is.”

“I’m sorry. She was nice. I liked her.”

Auguste managed a weak smile. “Me, too.”

“Were you going to marry her?”

“No, no. She, uh… She preferred girls. Mostly. She just… she wanted a baby, so. Yeah.”

“But she was your friend.”

“Yes.”

“I’m sorry,” Laurent said again.

Auguste moved to put his arm around Laurent. “Thank you.”

A silence fell between them again. People passed them in the hall, some in more hurry than others. Auguste was not quite sure what time it was, but he had brought Katie to the hospital a little after 10 pm. That meant his son was already a few hours old and he had barely spared him a thought. His rapid mind had circled around ‘what the hell am I going to do’ for quite a while now, and so far he had not been able to come up with a solid answer.

“I might be fucked, Laurent.”

The fact that Laurent didn’t scold him for his language spoke volumes. “What do you mean?”

“This wasn’t what… She… Katie had planned everything. She was so ready, she… she had a plan. We had a plan. I… I wasn’t supposed to…”

“I’ll help you,” Laurent said. “Mom and Dad will, too.”

“Katie’s parents would probably take him. If I asked.”

“Don’t they live quite far?”

“They do.”

“Do you want them to take him away?”

Auguste shrugged. “I don’t know. I don’t really know anything right now.”

Laurent hopped off the bench and held out his hand for Auguste to take. “Let’s go see him, then. Maybe he can tell you.”

“He’s a baby.”

“ _Your_ baby.”

After a short moment of hesitation, Auguste took Laurent’s hand and followed him down the hall. His legs felt like lead and his heart hammered in his chest but Laurent’s hand was solid in his and he didn’t let go. Not even when they finally opened the door of the hospital’s nursery, where their mother sat in a rocking chair with a tiny bundle in her arms. She looked up when the door opened and smiled softly.

“There’s your Daddy,” she whispered to the bundle. “Come meet your son, honey. He has your nose.”

Laurent led Auguste into the room and let go of his hand in order for Auguste to take his son into his arms. The tiny bundle was as heavy as the world, and at the same time, Auguste felt oddly strong. Carefully, Auguste sat down on the rocking chair his mother had vacated, his eyes glued to the sleeping little boy.

“Hey, you,” he whispered. “Hello, Nicaise.”

“Nicaise?”

“Yeah,” Auguste confirmed. “Laurent suggested it. Katie loved it.”

“Found it from a book, huh, darling?” Hennike said with a kiss on Laurent’s head. Laurent leaned against her side, his eyes on the baby.

“He’s coming home with us, right?” he asked.

“He is,” Auguste said. The fear that had been eating his insides since the doctor had told him the bad news had not gone anywhere, but as he looked at his sleeping son, it transformed, and all of a sudden he knew he could do this. “Mom, I… I swear I won’t drop out, okay, I won’t, but… could I move back home? Just until I figure this out, I mean… I know it’s a lot to ask, I just…”

“Oh, honey. Of course. Of course, you can!” Hennike said. “You can stay as long as you like, you know that.”

“Dad won’t mind?” 

“Are you kidding? He went to buy a car seat for this little one,” Hennike chuckled.

“We already have one.” 

“He knows. He went to get another one for our car. Just in case.” 

“Okay. I guess that settles it,” Auguste said. “You hear that, little guy? Yeah, we’re gonna be fine.” Nicaise yawned in his sleep, undisturbed by his father’s quiet voice. “I’m sorry you won’t know your mom. She would have loved you. I’m probably going to fuck up every now and then without her around. But I promise I’ll do the best I can, okay?” 

“You could start by cleaning up your language,” Hennike suggested gently. 

“Yes, Mom,” Auguste replied without taking his eyes off Nicaise. 

“You’ll be a great dad,” Laurent said. “You’ll be the best.” 

“I think you might be biased, Laurent.”

“Maybe but it’s still true.” 

“Well. That remains to be seen,” Auguste said. “Do you want to hold him?” 

They stayed in the nursery with Nicaise safely in Laurent’s arms as Auguste rocked the chair slowly back and forth until Aleron came from his car seat shopping trip with a teddy bear that was almost as tall as Laurent. 

* * *

The kitchen was the only place where there were no guests. Auguste had loosened his tie and his jacket hung on the back of his chair. He had poured himself a glass of his father’s whiskey but it remained untouched on the table. 

He heard the steady sound of 50 people talking and yet he had never felt as alone as he did now. He had about 100 decisions to make and even more questions to answer and even the simplest ones made his head spin. More than a couple of times he caught himself thinking ‘I’ll just ask Mom and Dad’ and every time it was like a kick in the guts. 

“Here you are.”

Auguste looked from his whiskey to see his uncle. “Yeah. Sorry. I just… I needed a moment.” 

“You’re entitled to it,” his uncle said, sitting down. “I haven’t seen your son.”

“He’s with Katie’s… his mother’s parents. They’ll keep him until…” Auguste sighed. “He’ll stay there for a while.” 

“Hm. And Laurent?

“In his room. I hope… He tends to wander off. Oh God, I really don’t have a grip on things…” 

Auguste leaned his head on his hands, his elbows on the table. His uncle patted his shoulder, but that didn’t offer much comfort. 

“I thought I was fucked four years ago. I had no idea…” 

“Well, if it’s any comfort, I’m sure things will get easier once Laurent moves in with me.” 

Auguste’s head snapped up. “What?” 

“Your parents will state that should anything happen to them before the two of you are legal adults, I would become the primary caregiver. Obviously, this no longer applies to you.” 

“But, you can’t… He just lost his parents! He can’t be forced to move out of his home!”

“A change in scenery might be good for him.” 

“Why would you even want him to move in with you? You barely know him.” 

“I simply wish to honor my brother’s wishes. 

His brother’s wishes… Auguste swallowed; his uncle’s words like a knife in the heart. “They didn’t think I could take care of him.” 

“Oh, I’m sure that is not true.” His uncle’s assurance did not sound sincere. “They simply thought you should focus on your own son.” 

“He’s… Laurent’s my little brother. I can’t just send him away!” 

“Send me away?” 

Both Auguste and his uncle turned at the sound of Laurent’s voice in the doorway. His black suit still looked pristine but the red on his cheeks betrayed that he had indeed wandered off. His face looked expressionless, but Auguste knew him well enough to see the question in his blue eyes, the silent alarm what he had just heard had caused. 

“Your parents,” their uncle started. “They state in their will that in the event that they can’t, I would be the one to take care of you. This obviously means that you are to move to live with me.” 

“You don’t have to,” Auguste said quickly. “We’ll talk to Makedon, I’m sure he’ll sort this out.” 

“Your brother will have a lot on his plate. He’s a father himself, and now that he’s graduated, your father’s business will be his to run. You don’t want to add to that burden, do you?” 

“Uncle, that’s… Laurent, you wouldn’t! You could never be a burden to me! Not ever!”

The voices of the 50 guests interrupted the tense silence. The occasional, short bursts of laughter felt out of place, and Auguste wanted to throw everyone out. Including their uncle. 

“When do I move?” 

“Laurent…!”

“It’s okay, Auguste. It’s what they want. So, uncle. When do I move?”

“I can have someone pick you and your things on Monday. You won’t need much.” 

“All right. Monday then.” 

With that, Laurent turned around and left. 

To Auguste, it felt like he took the air from the room with him. 

* * *

“Where have you been?” 

“Out.” 

“And you didn’t answer your phone because…?” 

“I left it at home.” 

Auguste fought to the urge to rip his own hair off. “Laurent, you _can’t_ do that!” 

“Why not?” 

“Don’t… don’t act like you don’t know.” 

“Ah, right. Uncle’s little spawns might be watching my every move, ready to snatch me at any moment.” 

“Laurent, we still don’t know how far and wide his network spreads.” 

“This isn’t some spy movie, Auguste.”

“No. No, it’s not. This is real life. And in this very real life, there are people out there whose only job is to make sure you don’t testify.” 

Laurent huffed. “Whatever.” 

“Whatever me all you want. You’re grounded. Again.” 

“That’d work much better if you actually had the balls to lock my door.” 

“You know I won’t do that.” 

“Right. ‘Cause you’re _better_ than him.” 

It wasn’t the words, but the tone, that punched Auguste in the face like a fist. It must have shown in his expression because the coldness in Laurent’s eyes cracked, and a hint of pink spotted his pale cheeks. 

“You know what? That’s it.” 

“...Auguste…?” 

With a couple of trash bags from the kitchen, Auguste headed to the living room. Ignoring Laurent’s ‘what are you doing?!’, he started to put the books in their mother’s bookshelf into the bags one by one. 

“Auguste! Auguste, stop, you can’t… You can’t throw them away!” 

“I’m not,” Auguste said. “But I am locking them away. I will also move the piano to my study and tell the stables not to let you in unless you’re with me.” Laurent’s eyes were wide. “This ends now, Laurent. I would never be as bold as to assume that I know how you feel but I do know that you are hurting and this - what you’ve been doing lately - is not going to help! If you insist on going out alone, you will have your phone with you at all times and yes, I will track you until the trial is over. Your teachers will inform me if you don’t show up to class. And if you ever - _ever_ \- come home drunk again when Nicaise his home…” Laurent winced, and Auguste couldn’t help but be happy that he was clearly ashamed of his last week’s stunt. “...then we might have to talk about new living arrangements.” 

A tear, then another fell on Laurent’s cheeks. Auguste put the trash bag on the floor and knelt in front of him, taking his hands. 

“I don’t want to do this. I most definitely don’t want to send you away again.” He used his thumb to wipe away a tear from Laurent’s cheek. “I wish you could be my single focus right now. But it’s not just you and me. It’s you, me and Nicaise and I have to think about him, too.” 

“I know.”

“You two are the most important people in my life, and if anything…” Auguste stopped to swallow. “Laurent, they _are_ still out there. Uncle’s people. It kills me that I can’t guarantee that you’re safe because honestly, I have no idea what I’d do if they got their hands on you.” With a firm grip of his shoulders, Auguste forced Laurent to look him in the eye. “I love you, Laurent. And I am begging you. Please. Don’t make it easier for them to hurt you.”

Laurent let out a shuddering breath before stepping forward so that he was pressed against Auguste. Auguste wrapped his arms around him, a piece of his heart falling back into place. 

“I’m sorry,” Laurent whispered. “I’m sorry, Auguste, I’m so sorry.” 

“I know. I know, Lou. It’s okay.” He kissed the side of Laurent’s head. “I’m sorry, too. I’m sorry any of it happened. I’m sorry I wasn’t there. I’m sorry I couldn’t protect you.” 

He’d been trying to say those words to Laurent ever since Laurent had moved back home, but Laurent had refused to listen. Now he squeezed Auguste harder.

“It’s not your fault.” 

“Maybe not. But it feels like it is. And I’d understand if you thought it was.” 

“I don’t.”

“Thank you.” Auguste pushed Laurent away enough to look him in the eye. “I don’t expect you to just magically be okay. I want you to know that I’ll be there for you every step of the way, however big or small until you are. We’ll go at your pace.”

“What if I’m never okay?”

“You will…”

“Please… don’t promise that I will be. I don’t want you to lie to me.”

“...I… I’ll be there for you… no matter what.”

Laurent sniffed, nodding. “I’d like to go back to school.” 

“I’ll call them today.” 

“...and… could we go riding? Today or tomorrow?” 

“Of course.”

“Okay. I’ll help you with the books.”

Auguste went through with his punishment, if only because all the parenting books he had read insisted that consistency was key. Laurent’s behavior changed dramatically that day, though, and instead of internalizing his anxiety and anger, he let his emotions surface so that he wouldn’t have to deal with them alone. There were long, sleepless nights full of nightmares followed by long exhausting days when it was too much for Laurent to get out of his room. Slowly but surely, however, their life picked up pace and joy again, and while Auguste knew that Laurent’s wounds could reopen at any time, even years later, he now knew also that he had the means to help mend them again. 

Auguste shivered at the thought of an alternative universe in which Laurent would have to go through his trauma by himself. 

* * *

 

“NO! I hate this! I hate _you_!” 

Laurent was shocked out of his afternoon studies by Nicaise’s clear voice. A few seconds later, a door slammed. He frowned, quite sure he had never heard those words come out of Nicaise’s mouth before. 

He left his room quietly and went downstairs. He found Auguste in the living room, lying on the couch with his arm over his eyes. 

“What happened?” 

Auguste sighed. “I have to go to New York again.”

“For how long?”

“Three weeks, at least. Maybe a month.” 

“Hm.” 

“I know I can’t keep doing this. He has every right to be angry.” Auguste lifted his arm and looked at Laurent. “So do you, by the way.” 

“I can’t be helped.”

“It can. I just need to hire someone. Strike that, I need to hire people. At least 4.”

“Let’s start with one,” Laurent suggested. He moved Auguste’s legs so that he could sit on the couch, too. “I can help you with that. I don’t know much about architecture but I like to think that I can sniff about idiots.” 

Auguste huffed out a laugh. “You are a pretty good judge of character.” 

“Damn right.”

“I am hopeful about one candidate. I just have to schedule a meeting with him. Hopefully, I can meet him before I leave so that he can start right when I come back.” 

“Is he good?” 

“He’s excellent. He used to work for Theo & Sons. He’s one of the sons, actually.” 

“If he’s one of the sons, why does he want to work for you?”

Auguste shrugged. “Some dispute with his brother. I don’t care, though, he’s one of the best young architects out there. I’d be lucky to have him.” 

“And you’re sure he’s not just going to spy on you and send your ideas to his brother?”

“I’ll ask him when I meet him.” 

“Oh, ha ha.”

“Seriously, though, I should email him. Hopefully, the upside of his unemployment will be that he’s not too busy.” Auguste sat up, rubbing his eyes. “God, I just want to stop flying back and forth. I feel like my blood pressure is off the charts. And…” He sighed again. “I never want to hear Nicaise say _that_ again.” 

“He doesn’t hate you.”

“He probably does right now.” 

“No, he doesn’t. He’s just angry like you said. Kids tend to mistake anger for hate.” 

“Have you been reading my parenting books?” 

“No, I’m just smart.”

“You always have been.” Groaning, Auguste stood up. “Right, I’m gonna go talk to him. You mind ordering dinner?” 

“Sure.” 

“Thanks.” 

Auguste left to follow Nicaise with a quick squeeze of Laurent’s shoulder. He didn’t come back down until the food arrived, and he carried Nicaise down with him on his back, so Laurent guessed they had reached peace. His nephew was a little more quiet than usual and Laurent heard the occasional sniff. Each of them made Auguste flinch. There was no more yelling, though, and they spent the rest of the evening curled up on the couch watching whatever Nicaise wanted (that had a proper rating)

A month later, Auguste declared that unless someone specifically asked to meet the CEO, he wouldn’t travel anymore (except for holiday destinations).

* * *

“So. What do you think?” 

Laurent and Nicaise glanced at each other, then turned back to Auguste. Nicaise tilted his head, narrowing his eyes, while a tiny smile tugged Laurent’s lips. 

“You want to marry Nik?” 

“Yes.” 

“So he’ll be like my step-dad?” 

“You don’t have to call him that. He can still be just Nik.” 

“Huh.” 

When Nicaise didn’t comment further, Auguste turned to Laurent. “It doesn’t change anything. It just makes all of this - “ Auguste gestured around him. “ - more official. 

“I think you underestimate the impact of the word husband has,” Laurent said. “But I think it’s great. I’m really happy for you.” 

Auguste’s chest suddenly felt 10 times lighter. “Thank you.”

“Will there be cake?” Laurent pinched Nicaise’s shoulder. “Ouch! What? A cake is important!” 

“He has to agree first.” 

“You haven’t asked yet?”

“No. I wanted to run it by you two first.”

Laurent and Nicaise glanced at each other again. Then, all of a sudden, Nicaise pounced from his seat into Auguste’s arms, almost knocking his dad off the coffee table he was sitting on. 

“Hey. What’s this?” 

“You don’t always have to think of us first, you know,” Laurent said. “It’s okay to put yourself first sometimes, too. He makes you happy. You love him. You don’t have to ask us permission to marry him.” 

“That may be true but that doesn’t mean I don’t want to. You two still - and always will -  come first. It’s a parent thing,” Auguste said. “So, Nicaise, buddy. I take it that this is okay with you?”

“Yes! Yes, Dad! You should totally marry him!

“He should totally what?”

All three jumped and turned to the doorway where Nikandros and Damen both stood, dumbfounded. Nikandros’ shock was simply that, complete with his mouth hanging open and wide eyes. Damen looked more confused than anything. 

“Weren’t you supposed to…?” Damen started, and Nikandros nodded, once, twice, three times. 

“I was.” 

“Supposed to what?” Nicaise asked, still hanging onto Auguste’s neck. 

Laurent muffled a laugh behind his hand. “You two are made for each other,” he said before getting up. “Come on, let’s leave them alone,” he added, prying Nicaise off Auguste. “You, too, Damen.”

“But I want to know what’s going on!” Nicaise whined as Laurent lead him and Damen away from the living room. 

“You’ll find out soon enough. Let’s give your Dad that chance to put himself first, hm?” 

That night at the dinner table, the 5 of them started to plan a wedding. Auguste couldn’t help the pride that swelled in his chest at the site of his little family. Nicaise’s laugh was catching as Nikandros told him of his plans to propose to Auguste that very same day, plans that Laurent had apparently known about. ("You just scored 100 points!") Despite his initial fear of screwing up, he now thought he had actually done a pretty job with the boy.

What made his happiness complete was seeing how content, happy, safe Laurent felt, leaning against Damen’s arm as Damen held him against his side. Laurent may have felt his staring, because he turned, and their eyes met.

His smile spoke of million things.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> My wife is hungry so I don't have time to do much formatting :/ I did read through it a few times, hopefully there are not too many errors! I have an idea for next chapter, so stay tuned! Thanks for reading!


	5. Part 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> They were looking for Christmas lights. They found something else.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Merry Christmas!

“A little bit to the left. Stop! Okay, now stay still.” 

Laurent hid a smile behind his book. Nicaise was sitting on Damen’s shoulders, ordering him around quite expertly as the two of them put up Christmas ornaments. Their mission at the moment was Christmas light, something Nicaise was rather particular about. Prince was keeping a close eye on them, adorably confused about how Nicaise could be so high up. 

“Okay, now hand me the rest.” 

“There is no more.” 

“What?! But we can’t leave it like this!” 

Laurent looked up. Their living room was already twinkling with all the lights Nicaise and Damen had put up. A small section in the far corner was still undecorated, though, and box of Christmas lights was indeed already empty. 

“It looks great, Nicaise. No one’s going to notice,” Damen said. 

“I will notice. This corner will hunt my dreams and ruin Christmas!” Nicaise wailed. “We have to go to the store. Laurent, give me your credit card.” 

“Or you could check the attic.” 

Nicaise’s eyes widened a little at Laurent’s suggestion. “They won’t be there.”

“How do you know if you haven’t checked?” 

“You go check.”

“I’ll go check,” Damen offered but Laurent stopped him. 

“No. Nicaise, there’s nothing scary up there, okay? It was just a nightmare you had when you were a kid.” 

“I’m still a kid.” 

“A younger kid.” 

“Damen said he could go.” 

“Okay, you know what? We’ll all go,” Laurent said. He put his book on the coffee table and stood up. “Come on! Even if there is a monster up there, it won’t be stupid enough to try and fight Damen.” 

The attic was more like a long forgotten guest room with a queen sized bed and a closet for clothes, an old carpet and a reading light. Prince bounced into the room with no care of any monsters, sniffing the corners with his puppy enthusiasm. In the far left corner, there was a pile of boxes, most of which were labeled ‘Nicaise’s baby stuff’. Some had ‘Mom and Dad’ written on them, and there were a couple of boxes of Laurent’s and Auguste’s childhood toys and books, too. Nicaise avoided the closet by heading straight for the boxes, leaving Damen to figure out how to open the closet that turned out to be locked. 

“I could just yank it open,” he said. “It doesn’t look too sturdy.” 

“Go ahead, I think it’s just from Ikea or something,” Laurent said. 

“We could leave it closed,” Nicaise suggested. “Why bother breaking it when we know there are no Christmas lights there?” 

“Because it’s high time you knew that there are no monsters that hide in attics,” Laurent replied. He nodded at Damen who took a firm hold of the handle and with one, strong pull broke the hinges. If Nicaise flinched, neither adult commented on it. 

“See? No monsters. Just…” 

“Presents!” 

There was indeed a pile of neatly wrapped gifts hidden behind old linens. Nicaise was quick to take out the biggest one and turned it around a few times in an effort to find out what it was. 

“Dad’s a genius, no wonder I never find them!” he said. 

“Put it back, Nicaise, we can’t…” 

“Wait!” Nicaise cut Laurent off. His head was tilted and he was frowning slightly. “It says ‘To Laurent from Mom and Dad.’” 

Laurent stilled. He looked from the gift that Nicaise had to the rest of the presents and slowly reached out for a small box on top of the pile. It, too, was labelled for him, and the next one had ‘Auguste’ written on it with his mom’s cursive handwriting. 

Damen’s hands came to rest on his shoulders. Laurent leaned back so that his back was to Damen’s chest. 

“They always did buy presents ridiculously early,” he murmured. “To avoid the rush, she said.” 

“There are some for me, too,” Nicaise said as he inspected another box. “‘From Grandma and Grandpa’”. 

“Do you want to open them?” Damen asked.

“I…” 

“We should!” Nicaise said before Laurent could finish. “But we have to wait for Dad and Nik!” As if knowing that was their cue, just then the three of them heard Nik’s car turn to the driveway. “I’ll be right back, don’t open them yet!” 

“Are you okay?” Damen asked when Nicaise was out of the door, Prince on his heels. 

“It’s been over 9 years,” Laurent said. 

“That doesn’t answer my question.” 

“I should be okay.” 

“But you’re not. And that’s okay, too.” 

“I don’t know if I want to open mine.” 

“So you don’t. It’s up to you.”

“Hmm.” Laurent traced the black letters his mother had written years ago with his thumb. “She used to write letters. I loved watching her. Sometimes she’d let me practise writing big words on the letters to her best friend. I was the only one on 2nd grade who could spell anachronistic.” 

“...and probably the only one who knew what it meant, too.” 

Laurent shrugged. “Dad always said I’d be the first person in the world to know all the words.” 

“Well, you’re certainly…” 

“...rry up, it’s a Christmas miracle!” 

“You actually wanting to go to the attic certainly is.” Prince was the first to appear, still bouncing with all the energy of an enthusiastic golden retriever. Nicaise had not even let his Dad take his coat off before pulling him to the attic by his hand, Nikandros right behind them. “Alright, what are we doing here, did Santa…? Laurent, are you crying?” 

Only then did Laurent take notice of the tears on his cheeks. He quickly wiped them off and managed a small smile. “I’m fine. We just, uh… We found something.” 

“Look, Dad!” Nicaise took the box Laurent had in his hand and gave it to Auguste. “It’s from Grandma and Grandpa! They hid the presents in the closet and we never found them until now!” 

“That’s… Wow. I…” Auguste sat down on the edge of the bed. “I don’t know what to say.” 

“Can we open them?” 

“Don’t you want to wait until Christmas?” 

“We were meant to open these years ago. I think it’s only proper that we open them now that we’ve finally found them.” 

Laurent saw Auguste trace his name the same way Laurent had. The corner of his brother’s mouth turned up and he nodded. “Sure, buddy. Go ahead and open yours.”

Nicaise wasted no time in finding all the gifts that had his name on them. He ended up with a quite an impressive pile and started with the smallest, which revealed a snow-globe with a unicorn inside it. 

“It’s just like the one Grandma had!” 

“It  _ is _ the one Mom had,” Laurent said. “I always wondered where it went.” 

“I worried the unicorn wasn’t happy because it was trapped.” 

“You remember that?” 

“Yeah. Grandpa said it’s okay because the unicorn gets to go out and visit it’s friends whenever we’re asleep. I used to try and stay awake so I could see it leave the globe.” 

“Sneaky little thing, weren’t you?” Damen said, ruffling Nicaise’s hair. Nicaise dodged away and carefully put the snow globe aside in order to unwrap his next present. 

“What’s in yours?” Nikandros asked Auguste. Laurent watched as Auguste opened his present, revealing a beautiful, high-quality scarf in Auguste’s favorite color of navy blue. He put it around his neck, smiling. "It's my something old and something blue," he said. Nikandros chuckled and Nicaise brought his dad another present that had his name on it. Nicaise himself had managed to open most of his own. Quite many of them were toys and books meant for a 4 year old, but the last made even the now 12 year old Nicaise gasp. It was beautiful toy-train set that would take him days to set up, and could probably keep even an adult entertained. 

“Oh, wow, I would have loved that as a kid!” Damen exclaimed. 

“You can help me build it,” Nicaise promised. “Laurent! You haven’t opened any of yours!” 

“Yeah, uh… Would you mind if I did it alone?” 

“But I want to…”    
“Nicaise,” Auguste interrupted his son. Nicaise shut his mouth and went back to admiring his train set with Damen. 

In addition to the scarf, Auguste now had a nice pair of leather shoes, a 5000 piece puzzle of the Empire State Building, and a gift certificate - that obviously was not valid anymore -  to a skiing resort (with an added promise that he could leave Nicaise to the care of his grandparents). 

“That’s a nice resort,” Nikandros commented. “We should go.” 

“Oh, cool, I always wanted to learn how to ski,” Nicaise said, completely missing the fact that when Nikandros said ‘we’ he probably only meant himself and Auguste. 

He didn’t correct Nicaise, though, and Laurent gave him a point. 

Of course everyone noticed when Laurent turned to leave. With the biggest present still in his arms, he inclined his head a little at Damen to invite him to come along. Auguste flashed him a warm, understanding smile that Laurent returned with some effort. Without another word, he left the attic with Damen, and quickly made his way to their room. 

When the door closed behind them, he all but fell on his knees to the floor, the gift making a soft thud sound as it fell from his arms. 

“Hey…” Damen’s voice was soft and his touch was even softer as he circled his arm around Laurent’s shoulders. Laurent let out a shaky breath, itching to open the wrapping but not quite able to yet. 

“I think I know what it is,” he whispered. “I remember begging Dad to get it for me.” He sighed. “I was always closer to Mom. Dad, he… He didn’t really understand me. He loved me, don’t get me wrong. But Auguste was the one who followed his footsteps into the world of architecture and it always confused Dad that I didn’t go down the same path. He never discouraged me, nor did he try to force me to be like him and Auguste. He just didn’t know how to talk to me, so he sort of let Mom handle my love for books and history.” Never one to rip his presents open, Laurent carefully tugged on the tape that was keeping the wrapping folded. “But my love for horses and riding is something I got from him.” 

It was a gorgeous saddle, every stitch and detail perfect. Laurent felt his eyes sting with tears again as he inspected it as he stroked the soft, brown leather. 

“I can still use it.” 

“We can go right now if you want,” Damen suggested. 

“No,” Laurent said with a shake of his head. “I was meant to ride this on a horse of my own.” 

“You have three.” 

“They’re Dad’s. They were born from the mares that he spent ages choosing. I love them but this saddle wasn’t meant for them.” Laurent shrugged. “Maybe one day.” 

Damen kissed the crown of his head. 

They went back to the attic a little while later to find Auguste, Nicaise, Nikandros and Prince cuddled on the bed. Auguste was reading one of the books Nicaise had gotten, which was obviously way below his reading level but oddly soothing. Laurent sat down on the floor to unwrap the rest of his presents. Auguste’s steady voice lulled him into memories, and he smiled at the thought of his mother’s giggles and his father’s booming laughter. 

“They would have loved you,” he told Damen quietly. 

“Yeah?” 

“Yeah.”

“I love  _ you _ .”

“Hm. I love you, too.” 

A couple of days later, Damen interrupted Auguste’s day at work with: “I need your help with something.” 

* * *

“Is the blindfold really necessary?” Laurent asked. 

“It wouldn’t be a surprise if you knew where we were going.” 

“It’s starting to itch.” 

“We’ll be there in 5 minutes, I promise.” 

“Fine. But only because you’re handsome.” 

“I always knew my looks would come in handy one day.” 

Laurent chuckled. His heart was thumping in excitement as Damen slowed down and made a turn. A few minutes later, just like he had promised, Damen stopped and turned off the engine. 

“Alright. Here we go.” 

Carefully, Damen helped Laurent take the blindfold off. Laurent blinked to adjust his eyes to the light, and frowned a little when he realized where they were. 

“The stables? I thought we were going on a… Oh!” His jaw dropped. “Damen. Damen, you… Damen, you didn’t!” 

Damen grinned. “Come on.” 

His legs a little shaky, Laurent got out of the car. Damen hurried to his side to take his hand and instead of taking him inside, Damen led him to the back. 

Laurent actually stopped and he couldn’t quite put a name on the sound that came out of his mouth when he saw what was waiting for him. The stable master, Jord, was holding the reins of an absolutely gorgeous white mare. He gave the reins to Damen with a smile and nodded at Laurent before disappearing inside. All Laurent could do was watch in a haze as Damen brought the mare forward. Her eyes were soft and she had a waterwall of a mane. As she came close, Laurent lifted his hand to gently touch her nose. 

“You… You bought me a horse.” 

“Yes. She’s all yours. She’s five years old, and he bloodline is impeccable.” 

“I can’t believe this,” Laurent breathed out. “She’s so beautiful.” 

“Only the best is worthy of you.” 

Laurent huffed out a disbelieving laugh. “I feel like I’m being courted.” He paused. “Am I being courted?” 

“We’re already dating.” 

“You know what I mean, Damen.” 

The smile on Damen’s face was soft and one-sided. His eyes twinkled. “One day. If you want.” 

“I do.” 

“You do.” 

“Yes. I never… I used to think I wouldn’t. I thought I’d - that I’d be fine alone. Better off, alone. And then you rang our doorbell.” 

“And you kissed me half an hour later.” 

“It was longer than that.” 

“Was it?” 

“I don’t know.” Laurent moved to stroke the neck of the mare. “You bought me a horse.” 

"I did." 

"You just scored so many points." 

"I didn't do it for the points." 

"I know. That just means you earned more points."

Damen laughed. “So. Is she worth the saddle?” 

“Yes. Yes, she is.” 

“Do you have a name for her?” 

Laurent swallowed. “Hennie.” 

“Hennie,” Damen repeated, with a smile. “Auguste deserves some of the credit, too, by the way. A lot of it, to be honest. He helped me a lot.” 

“I’ll thank him if I remember,” Laurent said. “Right now, though, I want to go riding. Did you…?” 

“It’s in the trunk. I’ll go get it.”

20 minutes later, Hennie was saddled and ready. Jord brought out one of Aleron’s horses for Damen, and together they galloped to the far end of the field near the stables. Laurent was laughing out loud when they reached a clearing, his breath coming out in small white puffs of air in the December cold. Damen drew their horses together and leaned over to kiss him. 

“Merry Christmas,” he said, his lips still against Laurent’s. 

“Merry Christmas,” Laurent said. 

In the wind, he could almost hear his mother go ‘aww!’. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I know it's not very long. Hope you liked it anyway :)


	6. Part 5

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The most defining moments of Auguste's life. The good and the bad.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This look longer than I thought but I hope you enjoy it! :D
> 
> WARNINGS! Uncle is discussed and canon compliant violence is obvious but not detailed!

Laurent had not been planned.

Looking back, Auguste was pretty sure his parent had been on the brink of a divorce. His dad had moved to the guest room and his mom started flying more and more long-haul flights - something she hadn’t done since Auguste was born.

Then, one morning, Hennike had announced she was pregnant.

Obviously, that meant she couldn’t fly anymore. Whether it was the new found time they had together or just the happiness of having of another child, Auguste didn’t know, but something new sparked between his parents after the announcement. Aleron moved back into the master bedroom and Hennike spent most of her freetime at home. Her belly kept growing and Auguste’s excitement grew with it.

Then, all of a sudden, he wasn’t an only child.

It started out as a normal Saturday morning. Instead of his school uniform, Auguste put on sweatpants and skipped down the stairs in hopes of getting a pancake breakfast. Instead, he found his dad ready with his coat and a plate with toast on it.

“You have a brother!” Aleron told him with a huge smile on his face.

Auguste blinked. “What?”

“Your mom had the baby last night while you were sleeping. Don’t worry, we called Mrs. Doors, she spent the night in the guestroom.”

Auguste hadn’t heard anything after ‘your mom had the baby’. The excitement he had been feeling for the last 9 months turned into confusion, and he wasn’t sure how to handle this new information.

“Go on, eat your breakfast. I’ll take you to see him.”

Aleron talked the entire way to the hospital but Auguste barely listened. His thoughts were a jumble as he wondered if parents really did love their children equally, if he’d be forgotten now that there was a cute baby, if his dad had been this excited when he had been born. A stab of jealousy hit Auguste, however illogical. He decided he didn’t like having a sibling after all.

The hospital was huge, and Auguste didn’t protest when Aleron took his hand, though he was far too old for it. His dad led him through the maze of hallways to a ward where the walls were painted with pastel colors. They went through a door that had a huge stork on it and found Hennike with the baby in her arms. The baby was wailing, and Auguste had another reason to dislike him.

“Oh! Oh, hey. Hi, darling,” Hennike said over the baby’s screaming. She was smiling, which Auguste found weird. “He just woke up, so he’s a bit cranky. Come on, come meet him.”

Dragging his feet, Auguste made his way to the bed. His dad helped him sit on it so he had a clear view of the baby’s pink, wrinkly face.

“What’s his name?”

“Laurent. After my father,” Hennike said. “You want to hold him?”

“He’s crying.”

“Maybe you’ll calm him down. Go on. He doesn’t bite. He hasn’t got any teeth.”

Auguste huffed a half a laugh. He wanted to refuse but Hennike was already telling him how to put his arms so, ever the obedient one, he did as instructed.

The weight of the baby was warm. Instinctively, Auguste rocked his arms in an effort to stop Laurent from crying. To his immense wonder, it worked after a minute or two.

And then Laurent looked at him.

And the confusion, jealousy and dislike evaporated just as quickly as they had appeared.

“Hi, Laurent,” he whispered.

“He likes you,” Hennike said as she gently put her hand through Auguste’s hair. “He knows your voice.”

“When can he come home?”

“Tomorrow,” Aleron promised.

“Okay.”

Laurent yawned.   
  
Auguste smiled.   
  
Because, yeah, it was sort of cute.

* * *

Auguste was 16 when he first had a crush on a boy.

The boy was the brother of his girlfriend at the time. He was older, in college, and smart. Good looking, too, and he always smiled in a way that showed his teeth.

Auguste left his girlfriend about two weeks after accepting that he was, in fact, crushing on her brother. It wasn’t that he hoped anything would happen with him - he was engaged to someone who wasn’t afraid to show that she definitely had boobs. Auguste just thought it wasn’t fair to her.

At first it confused him when he found himself falling for a girl again. It took a while before he realized that he didn’t have to be gay or straight. That there was also bi.

Life became a whole lot easier after that, if only because he didn’t spend his nights trying to figure out what the hell was going through his brain.

“What’s bi?” Laurent asked when Auguste decided that blurting it out to his 5 year old brother was a proper way to come out.

“It means I like both girls and boys.”

“I like both girls and boys.”

“No, I mean I… _like_ like both girls and boys.” Laurent tilted his head. “Romantically.”

“Okay.”

“Okay?”

“Yeah.”

“You don’t think it’s weird?”

“No.”

“Okay. Good.”

“You’re weird.”

Auguste chuckled and ruffled Laurent’s hair. “But you still love me?”

“Sure.”

“Then it’s okay.”

* * *

“Oh, go on, honey, open it!” Hennike urged, the camera ready.

“I can’t.”

“Well, you have to do it before your mom jumps through the roof,” Aleron said. “Just open it. You’ve already been accepted into three excellent schools, the world won’t end if…”

“This is the one, Dad,” Auguste cut Aleron off. “Everyone dreams of that one place, and I dreamed of this one.”

“It’s like ripping off a band-aid,” Hennike encouraged.

“Quick and painless? Mom, if they didn’t accept me then how is this going to be quick and painless?”

“Why wouldn’t they accept you?” Laurent asked. “You’re the smartest person in the world.”

“Thanks, buddy, but you’re biased.”

Laurent gasped. “I am not!”

Auguste took a breath. “I have to open it. I’m going to open it.” A fraction of a second before ripping the envelope open, he threw the whole letter across the room. “Oh God, I can’t open it.”

“I’ll open it,” Laurent said then and before anyone could react, he had the envelope in his hands. Auguste almost stopped him but then the envelope was already open and Laurent took out the letter that would seal his fate.

So yeah, Auguste may have been feeling a tad dramatic.

“Dear Mr. De Vere. We are pleased to inform you that…”

He didn’t get to read further before his mom was screaming. Auguste sank onto the couch and had to lean his head into his hands to make the world stop swimming in front of his eyes. Aleron patted him on the back while Hennike’s screams turned into excited sobs.

“Oh, honey, I am so proud of you!” she cooed. “We have to celebrate! Aleron, go to the basement and bring out one of the good champagne bottles. I’ll go make us reservations. Where do you want to eat, honey? Anywhere you want, I’ll buy the whole place if they don’t have a table for us.”

“I… I don’t care. Anywhere is fine.”

“Louisa’s Palace!” Laurent exclaimed.

“Sure. Yeah, Louisa’s Palace.”

“Louisa’s Palace it is,” Hennike said. She leaned down to place a kiss on Auguste cheek. “I didn’t doubt for one second.”

She almost bounced on her way to find her phone and then it was just Auguste and Laurent. Laurent was still holding the acceptance letter.

“Do you want to read it?” he asked.

“I should,” Auguste said. He held out his hand and Laurent gave the letter to him. It said what he already knew, that he had in fact been accepted into the school of his dreams. “I can’t believe it.”

“I can,” Laurent said. “I told you, you’re the smartest person in the world.”

“I’ll be the second smartest in a couple of years,” Auguste said.

“What do you mean?”

“Because you’ll be the smartest.”

“You’re biased.”

Auguste poked Laurent’s nose. “I am not.” He pulled his brother into an one armed hug. “Thank you for opening it for me.”

“I had to. Mom was ready to burst.”

“Yeah. That’s true.”

Laurent squirmed a little so that he was in front of Auguste. “I’m happy for you.”

“Thank you. I’m happy, too.”

“Do you think it’ll be fun?”

Auguste shrugged. “I hope so.”

“Hm.”

“Hey,” Auguste said to stop Laurent from thinking too far and realizing this meant Auguste would move out soon. “We’re going to Louisa’s.”

Laurent bounced. “You think we could share a sundae?”

“I just got into my dream school. I think we can both have our own.”

“Really?”

“I’m pretty sure, yeah.”

“You should get into your dream school every week!”

Auguste laughed.

* * *

“Whatever it says, I just want to thank you. For doing this.”

“It was my pleasure. Literally.” 

Katie chuckled.

“We can try again, if you want. If it didn’t work. It usually doesn’t the first time, right?”

“Yeah… Yeah.”

“Katie, you know I can…”

“I know. I know and I love you for it but…”

“10 seconds.”

Katie squaled, bouncing a little on her feet. She’d be crushed if the test was negative, Auguste knew that, no matter how many times he convinced her that he’d help until it worked. Her excitement was catching, though, and Auguste couldn’t help but think that he’d be disappointed, too, if the test said…

“Pregnant.”

It was more of a gasp than a word. Katie’s fingers were almost white from holding the test so hard.

“I’m pregnant.”

“You’re pregnant!”

“Oh my _god_ , I am PREGNANT!”

Katie jumped into Auguste’s arms, and Auguste spun her in the little bathroom.

“Thank you. Thank you so much, Auguste, thank you!”

“Hey, hey. No need for that,” Auguste said as he put her down. “You’re gonna be a mom.”

“And you’ll be a dad. You know, as much as you want.”

“I’ll be there as much as _you_ want, okay? I know what we agreed on, but if you suddenly decide that you need me more, just tell me. I may be a “weekend dad” but I’ll be a dad 24/7.”

“You’re the best person in the world, you know that?” Katie chuckled. “I can’t wait to tell my parents.”

“Oh… Oh, right. I have to tell my parents.”

“You think they’ll be upset?”

“I don’t know. Like really, I don’t know. They’re not the most conservative Veretians but I don’t really have experience about telling them I fathered a child as a favor.”

“Maybe don’t put it that way?”

“Maybe. I’ll come up with something. I’ll butter them up and just when they think I’m the best son in the world, I’ll tell them I’m having a kid out of wedlock.”

“You should tell Laurent first. Invite him over, tell him he’s going to be an uncle. See how he takes it.”

“You just want an excuse to invite him here.”

“Hey, I like that little guy. He’s like the smartest guy in the world and he’s, what? 10?”

“9,” Auguste said. “But yeah, you might be right. He could probably tell me if Mom and Dad will kill me.”

“Well, be sure to make a will because I’ve seen your house and you’re putting this kid through college, dude.”

Auguste laughed. Katie joined him, and they didn’t stop for a good 5 minutes.

That night, when they went to bed, everything was perfect.

Little did they know.

* * *

It was a bad day.

Auguste had barely slept as Nicaise had taken over his bed, and had apparently had pretty vivid dreams, if his kicking and tossing was anything to go by. Now his was in a ‘no’ mood, meaning he refused to do everything just for the simple pleasure of refusing it. Laurent was drowning in what was quite frankly an alarming amount of homework, and it made him grumpy in an annoying way. Auguste was alone with them as his parents were out of town for the weekend.

He had had it pretty easy as a single parent, he couldn’t deny it. Aleron and Hennike were more than happy to help him with Nicaise when he was busy with school, and now that Laurent was older, Auguste was comfortable leaving Nicaise with him for short whiles, too. There wasn’t much that he could complain about without being a hypocrite.

But by Sunday afternoon, Auguste couldn’t help but glance at the clock every now and then, counting down to when his parent were due to return.

“Come on, buddy. You like veggie soup,” he tried to coax Nicaise. The spoon hovered in the air but Nicaise refused to open his mouth. “Just a few spoonfuls, huh? For Daddy.”

“No!”

“We’ll watch cartoons after you’ve finished.”

“No!”

“Do big boys say no to food?”

“Laurent didn’t eat.”

Auguste sighed. “Laurent will eat later,” he said, loud enough that Laurent would hear it in the living room.

“I will eat later, too.”

“Nicaise, your dinner time is now.”

“No!”

“Please, Nicaise, just… Laurent, could you get that?” he called to his brother when the sound of the doorbell interrupted his pleading. “Now, come on. Open your mouth. Where will the plane land if you don’t open your mouth, huh?”

“The bowl.”

“Very funny. Laurent! The door!” Auguste yelled when he doorbell rang again.

“I’m busy!” Laurent yelled back.

“Oh, for Heaven’s sake. Nicaise, eat your soup,” he said and got up to open the door. “I’m so sorry you had to wait. How can I…?”

Auguste’s question stopped short when he saw two cops in uniforms on the doorstep. His heart sank to his stomach, as he couldn’t come up with many reasons as to why they would be there.

He could only come up with one, actually.

“Auguste DeVere?”

“...yes?”

“Mr. DeVere, my name is officer Howard, this is officer Jensen. I’m afraid we have some bad news.”

Auguste swallowed. “Bad… bad news?”

“Your parents were involved in a major car accident. I am so sorry to tell you that they both died on the scene.”

“What?”

It took a moment for Auguste to register that the question had not come from him. He turned around to see Laurent in the hall, paler even than usually, with his eyes wide and horrified.

“Mom and Dad are dead?”

“Laurent, please, Nicaise is…”  
  
“I don’t care!” Laurent pushed pass Auguste to stand in front of the cops. “They’re dead? My parents are dead?”

“We…” officer Howard started, caught of guard.

“Yes,” officer Jensen said. She did sound sympathetic, but clearly saw no reason to soften the blow as Laurent already knew. “We really are sorry, and we can offer…”

But Laurent was gone before she could finish. Auguste made half an attempt to stop him, but his own voice had disappeared, and he felt sluggish, like his body wasn’t responding.

“We, uh… We do need you to come and identify them,” Howard said. “The bodies.”

“Right… Yes. Um…”

“Someone will be in touch. You don’t have to think about it now,” Jensen said. “We’ll leave you alone now. We truly are very sorry.”

“Thank you.”

Auguste closed the door slowly. The world was tilting in front of his eyes.

“I finished the soup!”

Nicaise.

Right.

Nicaise.

“Great,” Auguste said. “Uh… How would you like to watch a movie in… in grandpa and grandma’s room? And… and maybe have some ice cream?”

“Grandma doesn’t like me to eat ice cream in bed.”

“She - she won’t mind,” Auguste forced out and oh God, he wanted to cry. “Come on. Pick anything you want.”

About 10 minutes after finishing his ice cream, Nicaise was asleep, just like Auguste had hoped he would be. He left the door slightly ajar and made his way to Laurent’s room. He knocked softly before pushing the door open.

Laurent was lying on his belly on his bed, face buried into his pillow and shoulders shaking. His heart in pieces, Auguste sat down on the edge of the bed. He barely opened his mouth before Laurent was in his arms, sobbing.

Auguste had no idea what he could say.

There was nothing that would make it better.

So he didn’t say anything. He just hugged Laurent closer, and cried, too,

* * *

When the phone rang for the second time in 15 minutes, Auguste decided he couldn’t ignore it. He closed his laptop and checked the screen to see the same unfamiliar number than the first time. Sighing, he answered with a tired “Hello?”

“ _Hello, my name is Ms. Waters, from Westlake. Am I speaking with Auguste?_ ”

“Yes.”

“ _Oh, good. I was wondering if you knew if Laurent is sick? This is the second day he hasn’t come to school but we haven’t been able to get a hold of your uncle. Laurent has a perfect attendance record, so we got worried. We found your information in the alumni records._ ”

Alumni records.

He wasn’t on Laurent’s contact list?

“ _I do hope it’s okay that I called you._ ”

“Yes. Yeah, of course. Thank you, I… I’ll call him.”

“ _All right, perfect. Please let us know if there’s anything wrong._ ”

“Sure. Uh… Thank you, again. I’ll be in touch.”

He ended the call without waiting for a reply. Worry twisted his insides as he wondered when was the last time he had heard from Laurent.

He winced out loud when he realized it had been nearly a week.

Auguste glanced at the clock. He wasn’t due to pick up Nicaise from playschool for another 3 hours or so. His uncle lived about an hour way, so he had plenty of time to make an unannounced visit. Work forgotten, he first tried to call Laurent’s cell phone. When his call went unanswered, he got up to find his car keys.

He kept the volume of the radio up to stop his own thoughts from swirling too much. He tried to sing along to the songs he knew, but he nagging feeling in his guts prevented him from enjoying it. He could only hope that he wasn’t breaking too many traffic laws, as he could just barely keep himself focused on the fact that he was driving.

There was no car on the driveway when Auguste arrived at his uncle’s house. It wasn’t huge, but Auguste knew his uncle was as well off as his brother had been. He parked the car on the street and half-jogged up the porch. He heard the doorbell echo inside the house, but no one came to open the door.

“Laurent?”

He knocked on the window, though he knew it wouldn’t be much help.

Maybe it was instinct, or maybe he knew the nagging feeling wouldn’t leave him alone if he just left. He quickly made his way behind the house and to his relief saw that the door of the basement was only locked with an old lock. A couple of strong yanks and it snapped open. Hoping his uncle put his trust in the neighborhood’s safety instead of an expensive alarm system, Auguste descended the stairs to the basement.

At first, it did seem like the house was empty. Something about it, however, made shivers run down Auguste’s spine.

“Laurent?”

He didn’t expect to get an answer. That’s why he jumped when he heard: “Auguste?”

It was quiet, but clear. Auguste all but ran up the stairs to where the voice came from. “Laurent? Where are you?”

“Here.” There was knock from behind the second door from the stairs. “It’s locked from the outside.”

“Uncle locked you in?” Both shocked and outraged, Auguste rattled the handle. “Where does he keep the key?”

“He takes it with him.”

“That son of a… All right, I’m breaking the door.”

“Auguste, you can’t…”

Fueled with adrenaline, Auguste got the door to break with one quick move. Laurent didn’t look malnourished or uncared for, but something about the way he held himself told Auguste that the fact that he was practically held prisoner in his home wasn’t the only thing that was wrong.

“Why are you here?” Laurent didn’t sound hostile, but not entirely happy either.

“Your teacher called. You haven’t been to school but uncle never called to tell them why.”

Laurent’s eyes widened. “He didn’t call the school?”

“No, they said they couldn’t…”

“He’s never made that mistake before.”

He said it quietly, to himself, but Auguste heard it nonetheless. “Before?” he repeated. Laurent flinched, and took a step back. “Laurent, how many times has he locked you in here?”

“I’m fine,” Laurent said quickly. He sat down on his bed. Auguste could almost see how he forced himself to look at ease. “I’ve got food and a bathroom. I’m just… grounded.”

Auguste crouched down in front of Laurent so that he was looking up at him.“First of all, being grounded doesn’t mean you should miss school. Second of all… I don’t care if uncle found weed in your backpack, he has no right to lock you up in your room for two days!” Laurent hugged himself, looking down at his feet, and Auguste took a breath to calm himself. “Okay, come on. We’re going home.”

“Wh… I can’t leave!”

“Well you’re not staying here.”

“He’s my legal guardian. He’ll just make me come back.”

“We’ll call Makedon to sort it out. I don’t care how many forms I have to sign, I’ll take him to court if I have to, but this is wrong and I can’t just ignore it. Pack whatever you need, I can come back for the rest. Or we can buy you new things, whatever you want.”

He put his hand on Laurent’s thigh in what he hoped was a comforting way. His heart stopped when Laurent first tensed, then moved away as if Auguste’s hand had burned him. They both froze, and stared at each for a few moments.

“Oh God, Laurent, what did he do to you?” Laurent’s eyes welled up, and he just shook his head. Auguste felt oxygen get stuck in his lungs. “You know what? Just leave everything. Let’s go, right now.”

“Auguste, I…”

“Right now, Laurent, because if he comes back before we’re gone, I’m going to kill him.”

A few more seconds of staring, and then Laurent finally moved. He quickly grabbed his backpack and a few books from the shelf and then followed Auguste out of the room and out of the house.

“He has my phone,” he said quietly.

“I’ll buy you a new one.”

“I’m fine, Auguste.”

“I don’t think you are,” Auguste said just as they reached the car. He turned so that he could look Laurent in the eye. “But I am going to do everything within my power so that you will be.”

Laurent shifted on his feet. “I don’t have to come back here?”

“No. Never.”

“Okay… Okay.”

A few weeks later, Auguste signed a paper that officially made him Laurent’s legal guardian. It didn’t make everything all right, but it was a start.

* * *

“Mr. DeVere?”

“Yes, Ancel?”

“Your brother’s here.”

Auguste looked up from his computer screen at his secretary, surprised. “Laurent?”

“Do you have other brothers that I don’t know about?” Ancel asked with an amused tone. “Should I send him in?”

“Sure.”

Ancel disappeared from the doorway and came back a few seconds later with Laurent behind him. He let Laurent in and asked “Tea?” to which Laurent answered. “No. Thanks, Ancel.” Ancel nodded once and left.

“What’s up?” Auguste asked when they were alone.

“I can’t just visit?”

“You can, of course, but you rarely do. And when you do, something’s usually up. So what is it?” He gestured for Laurent to sit down, but his brother remained standing. “Laurent, are you okay?”

“Yeah. Yeah, I just… I just wanted to tell you something and I finally gathered the courage and I didn’t want to wait until you got home in case I chickened out. Again.”

“Did you knock up a girl as a good deed to her?” Auguste joked. To his benefit, the corner of Laurent’s mouth lifted.

“No.” He took a deep breath. “I’m gay.”

Auguste blinked. Apparently he was quiet for a little too long because Laurent’s shoulders sagged, and he took a step towards the door. Quickly, Auguste got up and rounded the table. He put his hands on Laurent’s shoulders and squeezed. “That’s okay.”

“It is?”

“Of course it’s okay! And if you don’t mind me saying, I’m not that surprised.”

Laurent blushed. “It’s obvious?”

“Probably not to those who don’t know you. But I know you better than anyone, so yeah, I sort of guessed. And it’s totally fine. In fact, I’m bi.”

“What?” Laurent’s jaw dropped. “You are?”

“Yup.”

“Why didn’t you tell me?”

“I did. When you were 5. Or 6.”

“That doesn’t count!” Laurent didn’t look angry, just thoroughly surprised. “Have you dated guys?”

“Ah, well. Sort of. Once. Mostly I’ve just hooked up with someone for a couple of times before deleting their number. But we don’t have to talk about that!” Auguste hurried to say when Laurent’s cheeks turned even more pink. “The point is, it’s absolutely fine that you’re gay. Did you think it wouldn’t be?”

“I don’t know, I just… I thought I’d never think about anyone that way again, after… you know,” Laurent said. “But I caught myself staring at this one guy at school and I sort of felt disgusted with myself. I feel like I shouldn’t… I should never… I mean, how can I think I’d enjoy a relationship when…”

It wasn’t often that Laurent couldn’t form sentences and it was always when he was upset. Auguste hooked his forefinger under his chin and tilted it up.

“Laurent, you deserve to be happy.”

“Do I?”

“Yes.”

“I don’t think I’d actually be ready for anything - anything sexual for a long time. But I fantasize, sometimes, and it’s… weird.”

“Laurent, you’re a teenager. Teenagers fantasize.”

“Even when they’d run away screaming if anyone actually did touch them?”

“Even then.”

“...do you think one day I maybe wouldn’t run away?”

“When you find the right guy. A guy who makes you feel like the center of his Universe, who makes you feel safe. Who you trust.”

“Are there guys like that out there?”

“I’m sure there are.”

“Hm.”

“Hey. How ‘bout we go pick up Nicase and go to Louisa’s for an early dinner? What do you say?”

“Can you leave already?”

“I’m the boss. And I’m sure Ancel wouldn’t mind the time off. He’s been making eyes at one of my designers.”

“Right. Yeah, well. Sure. Let’s go.”

“Just give me a minute to sign off.”

They were waiting for the elevator when Laurent suddenly said: “The guy you once sort of dated? Was it Jord?”

“How did you…?”

“I didn’t. I took a wild guess.” Laurent grinned. “He is cute, I guess. Why didn’t it work out?”

“Ah, we’ve just known each other for too long. And we weren’t really each other’s type, we just… figured we’d give it a try.”

Laurent nodded slowly. Auguste took him into an one-armed hug. “Thank you for telling me.”

“You, too.”

“What if we fall in love with another set of brothers or something?”

Laurent laughed.

* * *

“So, I think this would work better if we… Oh. Hi, Nik. Is it 5 already?”

“5.10 but I can wait if you’re in the middle of something.”

“I think I can leave. What do you think, can we finish this tomorrow?”

Auguste almost didn’t realize Damen had asked him a question, he was too busy trying to pretend he wasn’t totally staring at the guy who had just walked into their office. A guy who appeared to be friends with Damen.

“Uh, yeah!” he said. He hoped he didn’t sound as out of breath as he as felt. He was 31, he didn’t lose his breath over cute guys. “Of course, go home. We’ve been at this for hours, we deserve a break.”

“Great!” Damen smiled. “This is Nik, by the way. Nik, this is Auguste. My boss.”

“Pleasure to meet you,” Nik said as he shook Auguste’s hand. Auguste resisted to urge to say ‘pleasure indeed.’ “Thank you for hiring him. He was getting restless without anything to do.”

“I’m glad to have him here.”

“We’re going to Molly’s for a beer. Wanna join us?”

_Yes and then I’ll take your friend home with me. Except that…_

“I should be heading home. Thanks, though.”

“Raincheck?”

“Sure.”

“Cool. I’ll go get my coat.”

“I hope he’s not drowning you in his ‘great ideas’. His apartment is filled with sketches he drew while he was unemployed,” Nik said when Damen was out of earshot.

“His ‘great ideas’ really are great so I don’t mind.”

“That’s good. Just know that you can tell him to stop, as he’s not the boss here. I swear, sometimes he acts like he’s an heir to the throne of Akileos or something.”

Auguste chuckled. “My brother can be a bit like that sometimes. I’m sure I can handle it.”

“I hope you’re right.”

“Are you two gossiping about me?”

Damen was back with his coat, and Auguste forced himself back to Earth from the little cloud he’d been floating on.

“Yes, I was just telling your boss all about your huge Disney collection.”

“Marvel. Marvel collection.”

“Same difference.”

“It is not.”

“Whatever you say. Come on now, it’s Friday and I need a beer. It was nice to meet you,” Nik said with a wave of his hand.

“You, too!” Auguste replied. He decided right there and then to somehow figure out of Nik maybe, possibly, liked men.

(When it turned out he did, well… Auguste’s next mission was to get his number.)

* * *

“You two are made for each other,” Laurent laughed. “Come on, let’s leave them alone. You, too, Damen.”

“But I want to know what’s going on!”  

“You’ll find out soon enough. Let’s give your Dad that chance to put himself first, hm?”

Laurent turned to wink over his shoulder before ushering Nicaise and Damen out of the living room. Auguste and Nikandros were left alone, and for a few moments, neither one knew what to say.

Then, finally, Nikandros sat down. “So, uh… You were going to…”

“Ask you to marry me? Yeah. Tomorrow.”

“I would have beaten you. I would have done it tonight.”

“Yeah?”

“Yeah. I told Laurent. He promised we’d have the house to ourselves.”

“He did look like he knew more than he let on.”

“He can be sneaky if he wants,” Nikandros chuckled. “Well, uh… I take it that… it’s a yes, then?”

Auguste reached to take Nikandros’ hand into his, and gave it a squeeze. “Of course it’s yes. I feel like I could have married you yesterday.”

“Me, too,” Nikandros said. “This isn’t how I planned to ask you.”

“Obviously. But I think it’s okay. I think Laurent is right and this just proves it.”

“That may be true but I hope we can still find some use for the strawberries and cream I have carefully hidden from your son.”

“Oh, I think we will.”

* * *

“I want an update on the cake.”

“The cake is fine!” both Auguste and Laurent exclaimed as Laurent was expertely fixing Auguste’s bowtie.

“What if they dropped it?”

“The cake cost me more than the rest of this wedding put together, Nicaise, I’m pretty sure they won’t drop it,” Auguste said.

“Can’t you just text them? Demand picture evidence? For your son’s sanity?”

“Your dad will do no such thing. He’s getting married in 10 minutes. Now sit down and play Candy Crush or go bother Nik.”

“Great idea, he can text them!” Nicaise said and before Auguste or Laurent could stop him, he was gone.

“I’m getting married in 10 minutes,” Auguste breathed out.

“Yes, you are,” Laurent said with a smile. “Nervous?”

“A little. But in a good way.”

“Good.”

“I just wish… You know.”

Laurent nodded. “I know. But they’re here.”

“You think?”

“Yeah.” He made a final adjustment on the bowtie and finally said: “There. Perfect.”

“Thank you,” Auguste said. “We did end up falling for another set of brothers. Sort of.”

“Sort of,” Laurent admitted. “Nik’s a great guy.”

“So is Damen,” Auguste said. “It’ll be your turn soon enough.”

“Maybe. He did buy me a horse.”

“He did. He’ll be asking me for your hand in marriage before New Year’s eve, I’m sure.”

“Let’s focus on getting you married first before discussing my possible engagement,” Laurent said. “Do you need anything? A glass of water? A shot of whiskey?”

“I’m good. Thanks, though.”

“That’s my job.”

The door opened, and Nicaise came back in. “Nik said the cake’s not really that important. We’re no longer in speaking terms.”

“That’s too bad as I’m going to marry him in 7 minutes.”

“Well your future husband just lost a ton of points,” Nicaise mumbled. “You look like James Bond,” he added.

“Why, thank you. You look very smart yourself,” Auguste said. His expression softened, and he lightly pinched Nicaise’s cheek. “You’ve been very helpful. I’m glad you’re okay with this.”

“I like our family. I like that it’s growing,” Nicaise shrugged. “I like that you’re all happy.”

“Are _you_ happy?” Laurent asked.

“Yeah. But if you ever think about growing this family by another kid, then we might need to talk. I have standards that need to be met, I won’t just accept any silly baby as my sibling.”

“I don’t think that’s something you need to think about. At least for quite a while,” Auguste said. “Now. Let’s get me married so Nicaise can have that cake.”

The wedding was small, held on their backyard with a little over 30 guests. Nikandros looked to be on the verge of tears as they said ‘I do’ and Auguste could feel his own eyes stinging, too. Nicaise whooped as they kissed and everyone joined him, and Auguste now had a husband.

He had gone about his life in a weird order, but he liked where he had ended up. Watching as Nicaise high-fived Nikandros, seeing Laurent tugged in Damen’s arms, he felt the kind of happiness one felt when they knew their life was complete.

  
  
  


(Oh, and the cake was fantastic.)


	7. Part 6

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The little and not so little moments of Laurent and Damen's relationship.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> WARNINGS!! Mentions of sexual abuse of a minor, blood, non-graphic sex.

“You’re smiling.”

Laurent looked up from his phone. “You say that as if I never do.” 

“You’re grinning,” Auguste specified. “Who are you texting?” 

“No one. I’m watching cat videos.” 

“Liar.” 

Laurent jumped. He had not heard Nicaise sneaking up on him. “He’s texting that Damen guy that was here like a week ago. Nik’s friend?” 

“Auguste, teach your son about privacy, would you?” 

“Nicaise, it’s rude to read other people’s texts without permission,” Auguste said, but there was no real heat behind his words. Nicaise shrugged and climbed over the back of the couch to sit next to Laurent. 

“Why are you texting him?” he asked. 

“To share cat videos.” 

“Why are you lying?” 

“What? He  _ is _ sending me cat videos.” 

“And why is he sending you cat videos?” Auguste asked. “Why does he have your number?” 

Laurent sighed. “Why do you think I insisted that Nik should stay a while longer?” 

“Well, I mean… I don’t know. You haven’t said anything about it, and he hasn’t asked about you, so I just thought it fizzled out before it started.” 

“I told him I’d like to keep a low profile,” Laurent said. “Nice to know he keeps his promises.” He smiled at yet another ridiculous cat-related message that Damen sent him. It took him a moment to notice that his brother was frowning. “What?” 

“Nothing! Nothing. It’s just... “ 

“What?” Laurent asked again when Auguste struggled to continue. 

“Okay, look, I work with him, I like him, I know he’s a good guy…” 

“...but?” 

“...but I also know his reputation.” 

“His reputation?” 

“As a guy who enjoys… the intimate part of a relationship. Quite a lot. And quite often only that.” 

“You mean sex?” Nicaise said. “I’m 11,” he added when Laurent and Auguste turned to stare at him. “I know how to use Google.” 

“When exactly have you googled sex?” Auguste asked. 

“When I first heard someone say it and didn’t know what it meant,” Nicaise replied. He turned to Laurent. “Dad is saying that Damen might only be interested in sex.” 

“Why thank you, I got that,” Laurent said. “And thank you for the warning, big brother. If that is the case now, I’d rather discover that by myself. Please.” 

“I just don’t want you getting hurt.” 

“I know.” 

“If you ever come home crying, I will kick his ass.” 

“I know that, too.” 

“Good. Make sure he knows that as well.” 

“I’m pretty sure he does,” Laurent said. His phone vibrated to alert him of a new message. “Huh. He’s suggesting Louisa’s for our first date.” 

“Well, he can’t be a total idiot then,” Nicaise said. 

“He’s not,” Laurent said. “Do not be weird at work, okay?” he said to Auguste. “I’m perfectly capable of scaring him off by myself if I have to.” 

“Fine.” 

“And don’t go bombing Nik with questions about him. This is my budding relationship and I want your nose out of it unless I specifically ask you to put it in it.” 

“All right, all right, okay! I get it, I’ll stay out of it,” Auguste promised. 

“Thank you.” 

“If he orders pineapple on his pizza, then he’s never allowed in this house again,” Nicaise declared. 

Laurent chuckled and told Damen Louisa’s sounded perfect.

\--

Laurent couldn’t remember the last time he had talked as much as he did on his first date with Damen. More than once, he realized he had forgotten to eat, and it took them almost two hours to finish their meals. The waitress - the Louisa herself -  brought them a chocolate sundae to share “on the house for my little Prince Laurent.”

“My parents found this place a little after they started dating,” Laurent explained when Damen raised his eyebrows. “There were only four tables then, and Louisa was running this place with just the help of her two brothers. My parents were her first regulars.” 

“And I was so proud that I’d introduce you to a hidden gem,” Damen said. 

“It’s not that hidden anymore,” Laurent said. That was true, the restaurant was buzzing even though it was Thursday. “I love this place, I’m comfortable here. So it’s perfect.” 

“Good,” Damen smiled. He reached across the table to put his hand on Laurent’s. “I want you to be comfortable. Prince Laurent.” 

It was said without a sneer, it actually sounded like a genuine compliment. Laurent hid his blush behind his glass of water. 

Damen turned out to be the perfect gentleman, helping Laurent put on his cloak, and opening doors for him. He was even a gentleman when he asked if Laurent wanted to continue the night to his place, and Laurent told him he should go home. “I have an early class,” he said. 

“Oh, right. You told me. No worries, I’ll take you home.” 

Laurent nodded, his heart beating a tad harder than a minute before. The entire 20 minutes that it took for Damen to drive him home, he debated if he should tell Damen he had changed his mind, that he could skip his first class. 

He didn’t, though, and a little too soon Damen was parked in front of his driveway. 

“I had fun tonight,” Damen said. 

“Me, too.” 

“When do you think we could this again?” 

“You want to do this again?” 

“Are you kidding? I’ll take you out again tomorrow if you’re free.” 

Laurent bit his lip to hide how wide his smile really was. “I’m watching Nicaise tomorrow. But I can do Sunday.”

“Perfect. If the weather’s nice we could go down to the pier.” 

“That sounds nice.” 

“Great! I’ll pick you up at 11?” 

“I have a day off on Monday, too, but I don’t want to have sex yet,” Laurent blurted out instead of answering Damen’s question. 

Damen blinked. “What?” 

“I mean, if… if you invite me over again, on Sunday, I’ll say yes because… because my Monday classes are canceled but I won’t have sex with you. Not yet. And I might not want to, for… for a long time. I don’t know. I have no idea, actually, because… this is not only my first date with you, but this is also my first date ever. So I have no idea how long it will take me to - to…” 

“Trust me?” Damen guessed. 

“I honestly don’t think that’s going to be an issue. It’s more to do with… myself.”

“When we first kissed, you said you might panic.” 

Laurent sighed. “Yeah.” 

“I’m jumping to conclusions here.” 

“I thought you might.” 

“Will you tell me?” 

“One day. If you turn out to be someone who deserves to know.” 

“Okay.” Damen took Laurent’s hand into his again. “You mind if I kiss you now?” 

“No. I’d very much like that.” 

Damen unbuckled his belt and leaned over the cup holder. His lips were as soft as Laurent remembered as he gently placed them on Laurent’s. The kiss only deepened when Laurent allowed it, and he found himself losing his breath at how wonderful it felt. 

“So. Sunday. I’ll pick you up at 11?” Damen asked as he pulled away. 

“Yeah.” 

“Have a good day at school.” 

“And you. At work, I mean.” 

Damen smiled. “I’ll text you.” 

“I’ll text back.” 

“Good night.” 

“Night.” 

Laurent was surprised that his legs managed to carry him to the front door. He turned to look over his shoulder three times before he was on the front steps and one more time before he opened the door. Damen blew him a kiss and waved and then finally left to go home, and Laurent wasn’t sure if he would ever be able to stop smiling. 

He allowed himself a moment to lean against the door and gather his thoughts. He felt butterflies in his stomach. He was suddenly immensely grateful that Auguste and Nik had returned late from their third date. 

“You look like you’re high.” 

Laurent laughed. Auguste was standing in the stairway, and Laurent was quite sure he had been ‘reading’ by the window overlooking the driveway the entire night. 

“I take it you had fun.” 

“I did.” 

“Good. If I was keeping score, he might have just earned a point.” 

“We’re going out again on Sunday.” 

“Already?” 

“Yeah. I might not come home until Monday.” 

“---oh.” 

“It’s okay. I told him I’m not ready. He’s fine with it.” 

“As long as he is.” 

Laurent leaned his head back, still smiling. “He is. I think - I think at some point he might not have to be.” 

Auguste didn’t say anything. He came down the stairs to stand in front of Laurent, his eyes soft and burning at the same time. Laurent’s smile didn’t fall - in fact, it widened, and he just shrugged to say he didn’t quite know how to put how he felt into words. 

Auguste pulled him into a hug. Laurent let him. 

\--

It was their 6th date. Damen was making them dinner when he suddenly realized he was missing a key ingredient. This turned out to be lucky, as it allowed Laurent 20 minutes alone to set up a surprise. 

So when Damen came home, the fireplace was lit, soft music was playing, and all of the pillows in the entire apartment were in a pile on the living room floor, complete with blankets. Laurent sat in the middle of this nest, hoping his sheepishness didn’t show through. “Surprise?”

Damen put down his shopping bag before joining Laurent on the floor. “How did you even…?” 

“I can be quick when I’m properly motivated.” He pulled Damen closer. “You’ve been amazing. I wanted to do something special for you.” 

“You know you didn’t have to.” 

“Of course. But as I said, I wanted to.” Laurent ran his fingers through Damen’s thick, dark hair. “You’re quite unlike anyone I’ve ever met.” 

“So are you.” 

Laurent moved to sit in between Damen’s legs. “I don’t know… I’m not sure I know how to proceed.”

“That’s okay. I’ll guide you.”

“I also don’t know what I’ll like.” 

“I’ll figure it out, don’t worry.” 

“I might be frustrating.”

“Impossible.” 

“And I might want to stop.” 

“Just say the word and we will. No pressure.” 

Laurent nodded. His heart was beating against his ribs, but it was less to do with fear and excitement. Damen’s eyes were warm and reassuring as he brought their lips together, and it was impossible to compare his long movements and soft touches to anything Laurent had experienced before. Damen circled his arms around Laurent, pressing the bodies together. Slowly, carefully, Damen pushed Laurent down onto the pillows. They had done this before, always on Laurent’s terms, but there was something new in the air this time, something… sparkling. Laurent felt some of Damen’s weight on him, but the panic he was so used to never came. His heart knew he was safe, and his mind had finally accepted that. 

Clothes started to come off. There was some laughter when Laurent’s turtleneck got stuck. Laurent felt goosebumps as Damen’s fingers traced his naked skin. Damen spoke soft words into Laurent’s ear, and Laurent could only make sense of some of them. 

Damen realized that Laurent liked it slow even before Laurent himself did. He allowed himself to let Damen take control, and for once Laurent let his thoughts quiet down. Damen kept talking to him, and it was like they were in a cocoon, protected from the outside world. Laurent felt like a king. 

If someone should ever ask him how it was, he wouldn’t be able to tell them. Both because it was private and because there simply were no words for it. How does one describe an experience that they thought they’d never enjoy but ends up being one of the most beautiful moments of their life? Laurent didn’t know, nor would he worry about it. This moment was his, theirs, alone and it was too big to share. 

After, Laurent got up, despite Damen’s weak protest, and got a towel from the bathroom. He spent a generous amount of time cleaning first Damen and then himself. After he was done, Damen pulled him back down so that his head was resting against Damen’s chest. He could hear Damen’s heart, steady and strong. 

Laurent was on the verge of dozing off when he heard: “I love you.” 

His eyes snapped open. He stayed still in Damen’s arms. Damen didn’t move or say anything else, most likely thinking Laurent was indeed asleep. 

Laurent could taste the words in his mouth. In his mind, he even heard himself say them. Most importantly, he felt it. He felt the raw honesty of Damen’s words and the nakedness that were his own feelings. 

But the words did not come out. 

Laurent wasn’t sure how long they had been lying there when Damen finally moved. 

“Laurent? Sweetheart?” 

“Hmm?” 

“Nodded off, did you?” 

_ No _ . “Yeah.”

“Are you okay?” 

“Yeah,” Laurent said against. He turned to lean on his elbows. “I’m fine. More than fine.” 

“Did you enjoy it?” 

Laurent smiled softly. “I did. A lot. Thank you.” 

“Thank  _ you _ ,” Damen replied. “God, Laurent, that was… Beautiful. I don’t know how to else say it, and that’s not even enough, not by a long shot. I’ve never… it’s never been like this. Not ever, with anyone.” 

Something warm settled in Laurent’s stomach. “When you say it like that, I have no other choice but to believe you.” 

“Please do. Because it’s absolutely true.” 

“Well, you made it beautiful for me, too.” 

Damen cupped Laurent’s cheek. “I’m glad.” 

The moment was broken by the groaning of Laurent’s stomach. Damen laughed and kissed his forehead. “Dinner?” 

“Sure.” 

The night went on uneventfully, quietly, for which Laurent was glad. He borrowed one of Damen’s old hoodies, which came down to almost his knees, and buried himself in it as they put on a movie after finishing dinner. He was warm and comfortable, and with ‘I love you’ echoing in his mind, he fell asleep about halfway through the movie. 

\--

It happened after yet another perfect day they had spent together. 

They hadn’t even had sex. They had spent the entire day exploring each other’s favorite spots in the city and were both exhausted by the time they got home. Damen found Laurent fast asleep on the bed when he came out of the shower, and carefully maneuvered himself under the covers. He was out like a light in minutes, too. 

He first thought he woke up randomly, or maybe due to a dream that he instantly forgot. He yawned and figured he might as well get a glass of water when he heard a whimper that made him turn around. 

“Laurent?” 

“No… No, stop. Stop…” 

“Laurent, hey. Wake up. Wake up, sweetheart, it’s…” 

“NO!” 

The punch that followed surprised Damen more than it hurt, though he knew there’d be a bruise. The impact was apparently enough to wake Laurent up as he shot up in the bed, breathing hard. Even in the dim lighting, Damen could see he was terrified. 

“Laurent. Laurent, you’re okay. You’re okay, you’re with me.” 

He kept his voice low and soothing, even though his heart was hammering. He wasn’t sure if Laurent heard him, as he didn’t respond in any way. Damen waited for a few minutes before getting out of bed. He quickly gulped down that glass of water in the kitchen before filling another glass and bringing to Laurent. While he had been gone, Laurent had moved to hug his knees, his forehead leaning against them. 

“I brought you water. I’ll put it on the table,” Damen said. “I’m here if you want to talk. Or if you… want ice cream. Anything. I’m here.” 

Damen’s instincts demanded him to take Laurent into his arms, but something about Laurent’s body language stopped him. He sat on the bed and leaned against the headboard, leaving plenty of space between himself and his boyfriend. He plugged his phone off the charger and started playing Candy Crush to keep himself awake. 

It took almost 15 minutes before Laurent moved. Damen watched as he uncurled himself and reached for the water that Damen had brought. He took a few careful sips before putting the glass back down. He then turned to Damen. 

“I suppose you want to know what that was about.” 

“That’s totally up to you.” 

“I should tell you. You deserve to know.” 

“I am honored that you think so but you don’t have to.” 

“I do. I do, if… If I’m going to spend even more nights here. This doesn’t happen very often anymore, but it does happen and I don’t… I don’t always handle myself this well afterward. You should at least know why.” 

Damen put his phone away, silently letting Laurent know that he had his full attention. Laurent got himself a pillow to hug and squeezed it against himself. 

“Just… give me a moment to decide.” 

“Decide what?” 

“If I should tell you the whole story of the five-word version.” 

“All right. Take your time.” 

Another minute or two later, Laurent apparently made up his mind. 

“After my parents died, we discovered that they had listed our uncle as our legal guardian if anything should happen to them before we turned 18. Auguste was 24, so it obviously didn’t apply to him anymore, but I was 13. Auguste said that he’d sort it out so I could stay at home, but Uncle insisted that Auguste already had too much to handle. I believed him, even though I already hated him. I don’t really know why; I barely knew him then. I hated Auguste for no other reason than I was angry at everyone, I hated our parents for… for dying. For not changing their will. I… I even hated Nicaise, for being born. I wanted to scream, I wanted to trash my room, I wanted to burn the house down, but I just went up to my room to pack and two days later, I was unpacking them in my room at uncle’s house. 

“You know the saying: Put a frog in boiled water and it will jump out. But put it cold water that is slowly heated up, it doesn’t realize the danger and is boiled alive?” 

“Yeah?” 

“Yeah, well… I didn’t… realize the danger first. My uncle was patient, and I was grieving. It started with pats on the shoulder before I left for school, hugs when I was crying after my parents. Things that no outsider would find suspicious, and definitely not me. I… I don’t think I realized anything was wrong until he put his hands on my shoulders to force me on my knees.” 

“No. Oh God… No, Laurent, that’s…” 

Damen felt sick. His blood turned to ice in his veins. He wanted to hit something, and at the same time, his limbs felt numb. He shivered, even though the room was warm. 

“He had a way of making me feel like he cared for me. I don’t think I really understood what kind of person he was until he took my phone away and locked me in my room for the first time.” 

“Where is he now?” Damen asked. 

“Jail. Auguste eventually found out and brought me back home. I agreed to talk to the police because I was afraid they’d send me back otherwise. It turned out I wasn’t his only victim. He’s never getting out.” 

“Good. That’s good. Jesus, Laurent, I… I knew it was something bad but this… I never imagined…” 

“I know,” Laurent whispered. “Are you angry?” 

“What, at you? No, of course not. Why would I be?” 

“For not telling you sooner. For not… stopping him.” 

“You were a child.” 

“I know. That’s what everyone tells me. Auguste, the three therapists I’ve seen over the years. I do believe it wasn’t my own fault. Most of the time. Then I have a nightmare and… I forget.” 

“Now you have one more person to remind you, whenever you need it.” 

“We haven’t been dating that long. You could walk away if you wanted.”

“I’ll only ever walk away if you send me away. I love you, Laurent.” 

Laurent’s blue eyes met his. He hadn’t said it yet, and Damen wasn’t surprised when he didn’t say it now. He didn’t feel disappointment, just sorrow and anger now that he knew the reason why Laurent found it so hard to say. 

“I want to be better. For you,” Laurent said quietly. 

“You’re already perfect.” 

Laurent huffed. “You’re too in love to be a reliable source on that matter.”

“Maybe but it’s true.” 

“I…” 

“Shh. Just… shh.” Damen pushed himself off the headboard. “Can I hug you?” 

“I’ll come to you.” 

“Okay. I’ll be here.” 

For a while, the only sound in the room was the sound of late night traffic from outside. Damen only noticed he had fallen asleep when Laurent crawled into his arms. Damen moved them both to lie down comfortably. 

“Thank you,” Laurent breathed out. 

“Always,” Damen replied, and vowed in his heart for it to be true. 

\--

When Laurent asked Damen to watch Nicaise for a couple of hours, he expected both of them to be somewhat bored when he came back, maybe watching something Nicaise probably shouldn’t, or minding their own business. He did definitely not expect to come back to hear Nicaise screaming in the backyard. Frowning, Laurent hurried through the house to the back door. 

What he saw made him stop. Nikandros was sitting on a lounge chair, sipping lemonade while Auguste laid on his back in the middle of the yard. Nicaise had Damen pinned to the grass (or… Damen let Nicaise pin him onto the grass) by sitting on his chest and held a fake sword to his neck. 

“Yield!” he yelled. 

“Never!” 

“Yield, I say! Yield for Vere!” 

“What’s going on?” Laurent asked Nikandros. 

“Damen killed Auguste in combat. Nicaise is avenging him,” Nikandros explained. 

“Ah.” 

“This is your last warning! Yield, you Akileon!” 

“I shall never!”

“Tickle him,” Laurent told Nicaise. “His sides are particularly ticklish.”

Damen’s eyes widened. “I thought you loved me!” 

Laurent shrugged. “I hear you killed my brother.” 

“He tried to kill me first!” 

“And now you will die!” Nicaise declared. He threw his toy sword aside and buried his little fingers into Damen’s ribs. Damen squirmed and yelped until he finally called out: “Fine, you win! I yield, I yield!” through his desperate laughs. 

“Ha!” Nicaise got up. He picked up his sword again and held it up high. “Father has been avenged!” 

“Ah, my loyal son,” Auguste groaned as he got up. “I bless you from beyond the grave.” 

“And I will take on the solemn duty of the king of Vere,” Nicaise said mournfully. 

“You’re too young,” Laurent said. “You’ll need a Regent until you’re 21.” 

“Fine. You be my Regent, then. Just don’t go making any stupid laws like it’s forbidden to eat dessert before dinner.” 

“What if I betray you?” Laurent joked. “What if I am plotting to take over the throne?” 

“Nah. You wouldn’t want to be king,” Nicaise replied. 

“True. You know me too well.” 

“You’d be a great king,” Damen said as he dropped onto a lounge chair next to Nikandros. “I bet you’d somehow manage to end slavery in agent Akileos.” 

“What, as the king of Vere?” 

Damen shrugged. “That’s how great I think you’d be,” he said. He accepted a glass of lemonade from Nikandros. 

“I do, by the way,” Laurent said quietly when the others’ attention was elsewhere. 

“Do what?” 

“Love you.” 

Damen almost choked on his lemonade. 

“I know you know I do. I’m sorry I haven’t said it earlier.”

“It… I mean… I never…” 

“I know. And I love you even more for it,” Laurent said. 

Damen smiled. It lit up his eyes. “I love you, too.”

“Good,” Laurent said and kissed the top of Damen’s head, something he could only do when Damen was sitting down. 

\--

“I’m home!”

“I’m in the living room.” 

Damen rounded the corner to the living room with two boxes of pizza in his hands. “It’s Friday,” he explained when Laurent tilted his head. 

“I hope there’s no pineapple on those.” 

“I learned my lesson. I haven’t forgotten Nicaise’s lecture.”

“Good.” 

Laurent yawned, and Damen paused. He looked at his boyfriend, holding a book, with a blanket on his legs, wearing a sweater that was a little too big for him, his light hair framing his gorgeous face. He looked to be at peace with the world, and it warmed Damen’s heart. 

“I have an absolutely brilliant idea!” Damen declared suddenly. 

Laurent put his book down. “Oh?” 

“We should totally live together.” Damen was absolutely beaming when he joined Laurent on the couch. “I love this. Coming home to you. I want to do that every day!” 

“You want me to move here?” Laurent asked. 

“Yes! Or wherever you want, I don’t mind, just as long as we live together.” 

Laurent sat up a little straighter. “The last time you lived with someone, it didn’t end very well.” 

“Are you planning on fucking my brother?” 

“I’ve never even met your brother.” 

“You haven’t missed much.”

“Do you still hate him?” 

Damen sighed. “No. Not really. But it’s hard to forgive someone who hasn’t apologized.” 

“Have you tried calling him?” 

“I think that’s his job, being the one who fucked my girlfriend.” 

Laurent shrugged. “Maybe. You miss him, though, so maybe you should try.” 

“How do you know I miss him? We’re not like you and Auguste, we never were.” 

“But he is your brother.”

“I just asked you to move in with me. Why are we talking about Kastor?”

“Sorry,” Laurent mumbled. “You brought him up.” 

“I shouldn’t have. And to answer the question you didn’t ask, no, it didn’t end very well. But the thing is, I love you more than I ever loved her. I also believe you love more than she loved me.” 

“I do love you quite a lot.” 

“Which brings me back to my suggestion. Let’s live together.”

Laurent circled one arm around one of his legs. “I’m pretty sure Nik will move in with Auguste pretty soon. It’s going to get pretty crowded.” 

Damen perked up. “We can find a new place together. A bigger one, and closer to your home.” 

“There’s no hurry. We will fit in here just fine for now. And it’s not that far.” 

“You mean it?” Damen said. “You’ll move in?” 

“Yes,” Laurent laughed. “I’ll move in with you.” 

Damen tackled Laurent onto the couch, both laughing. 

\--

“Why do you need a new bed?” Nicaise asked as Damen and Nikandros carried the new bed up the stairs. 

“Because Damen is quite large if you haven’t noticed,” Laurent answered. “It’ll be more comfortable.” 

“You also got a new desk and a new bookshelf,” Nicaise listed. “I thought one of the benefits of staying here was that you didn’t have to buy new things.” 

“I am staying here, but I am also starting a new life with Damen.” 

“Moving to a new room wasn’t enough?” 

“It’s hard to explain,” Laurent said. 

“It sure is hard to understand,” Nicaise replied. “Ah, well. Just don’t make me carry anything,” he added before skipping off. 

“All right, we have a new bed,” Damen said then from the top of the stairs. “Come test it?” 

“And that’s my cue to leave,” Nikandros mumbles. “Don’t break it, it was bloody heavy.” 

Laurent chuckled as he ran up the stairs to join Damen. Together they jumped onto their new bed, still bare of sheets. 

“Ah, I can finally move without kicking you,” Damen sighed. 

Laurent turned to his side. “Did you give up your keys yet?” 

“This morning, yeah.”

“How do you feel?” 

“Probably quite like you did when we had packed the last of your boxes.” 

“Hm.”

"Hey," Damen sighed. “We live together.” 

Laurent smiled. “We do.” 

“We should put some sheets on this bed.” 

“Not yet,” Laurent said. “We’d only make a mess of them.” 

“Oh?” 

“Oh yeah.” 

They didn’t break the bed, but they were loud enough that Nikandros took Nicaise out for spontaneous ice cream.

\--

The first time Laurent met Kastor ended with Laurent sitting in the waiting room of a hospital, his hands red with blood. 

He remembered telling Nicaise to stay in his room. By the time he came back downstairs, Kastor was speeding off and Damen was lying on the driveway, bleeding. 

“Is he dead?” 

“I told you to stay in your room!” Laurent had yelled. “Yes, please, my… my boyfriend is bleeding, he… I think he was stabbed, please,” he had sobbed into the phone, all the while keeping his free hand on the wound. “Please, Damen…” he had cried. “Please, you can’t leave me, you can’t, don’t… Don’t you dare. You’re going to be okay. You have to be okay, please…” 

Now he was here, in the waiting room, with his hands still covered in Damen’s blood. Fitting, that today was the day he had chosen to wear white. 

“Lou?” 

Auguste was in front of him in the next second. His face was blurred, and only then did Laurent notice the tears on his cheeks. 

“I’m sorry I left Nicaise alone,” he murmured. 

“He’s 13, he can take care of himself,” Auguste said. 

“He must have… he must have been so scared, I shouldn’t have…” 

“Hey, hey… Nicaise is fine. Ancel will help him forget about Damen for a while, I’m sure.” 

“Where is he?” 

Laurent swallowed when he saw Nikandros. “With the doctors, still. It’s been a couple of hours.” 

“What did Kastor want?” 

“He’s angry about the merger. He was yelling and I figured they might fight but I never… I didn’t know he had a knife.” 

“Did he hurt you?” Auguste asked. 

“No. No, I’m fine, I…” 

“Family of Damianos?” 

“Yes!” Laurent breathed out when a doctor came in. “Yes, please, how is he?” 

“He’ll be fine,” the doctor said. “He lost blood, but the wound wasn’t deep enough to harm anything vital.” 

The relief hit Laurent so hard that Nikandros had to stop him from falling to his knees. “Can I see him?” 

“Only one for now. He’s tired.” 

Laurent took a step to follow the doctor but stopped. He looked over his shoulder at Nikandros. “I…” 

“Go,” Nikandros said. Laurent didn’t wait to think if he meant it. 

Damen, as big as he was, looked quite small in the white hospital room, in the wide bed. He looked to be sleeping but woke up when Laurent took his hand. He managed a weak smile, while Laurent felt a lump in this throat. 

“Hey, you,” Damen said. “You’re okay.”

“Of course I’m okay, you goddamn idiot,” Laurent said. 

“It’s not nice to insult someone who’s just been stabbed.” 

“It’s not nice to propose to someone and then get stabbed.” 

“That wasn’t exactly planned.”

“I should hope so. I do hope you know I would have said yes even without the dramatics.” 

“So you are saying yes?” 

“Of course I’m saying yes. You knew I’d say yes or you wouldn’t have proposed.” 

“You can be unpredictable sometimes.” 

“I have to keep you on your toes. You’d get bored otherwise.” 

“Never,” Damen promised. He brought Laurent’s hand to his lips for a brief kiss. 

“Don’t,” Laurent protested. “It’s bloody.”

“I’ve seen blood, don’t worry,” Damen replied. “I left the ring in our room.” 

“That’s okay.” 

“I had big plans, you know.” 

“I’m sorry I ruined them.”

“I should have known that you’d find the ring if I didn’t keep it with me at all times. It was my own fault, really, trying to keep something hidden in your own home.”

“It’s your home, too. I hope you know that.” 

“I do.” 

“I hope it feels like home to you.”

“You’re there. I could live in a dumpster and it’d feel like home.” 

“You’re a sap.” 

“And you love me for it.” 

Laurent chuckled. “Yes. A lot.” He squeezed Damen’s hand in his. “You scared me.” 

“I’m sorry.” 

“Kastor’s been arrested.” 

“Good. However, we just got engaged. I’d rather not ruin that by thinking about him.” 

“Damen…”

“I know I’ll have to think about him a lot soon. But I’ve been stabbed and I’m tired and I’m engaged to the love of my life and I don’t want to think about him now. Okay?” 

“Okay,” Laurent agreed. He put his free hand through Damen’s hair. “You should get some rest if you’re tired. I’ll be here.” 

“You will?” 

“Yes. Right here.” 

“Hm. Then I’m the luckiest guy in the world.” 

“No,” Laurent whispered as Damen fell asleep. “That would be me.” 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This turned out a little more dramatic than I thought. Ah well. Sometimes drama is good for the soul :)


	8. Part 7

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Two times that the stables offer Laurent comfort. 
> 
> Mention of blood, otherwise no warnings.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It's short, but I wanted to get it out :) Enjoy!

Laurent listened to the hussle and bussle from where he was sitting in the corner of the stall where the only pony in the stables lived. Butterball had taught Laurent how to ride, and the calm and gentle creature didn’t mind much about the 13 year old disturbing her peace. Every once in a while she’d sniff Laurent’s hair, and Laurent felt the corner of his mouth twitch even though his heart was in pieces. 

“Laurent?” 

“How did you find me?” Laurent asked as Auguste appeared outside the stall. 

“Jord called me.” 

“Right.” 

“And I would have guessed,” Auguste said. “Can I come in?”    
Laurent shrugged, and Auguste took that as an invitation. “Where’s Nicaise?” 

“Katie’s parents picked him up.” 

“He’ll have fun. They have a pool, don’t they?” 

“Yeah.” 

“Did you tell him?” 

Auguste sighed. He sat down next to Laurent, apparently giving no mind to his pristine pants. “No. How do you tell a 4 year old something like that?” 

“I don’t know. I suppose you just do?” 

“It’s messed up, though.”

“Mm.” Butterball pushed Laurent softly with her nose. “We’ll keep all the horses, right?” 

“Of course, why?” 

“Just making sure.” Laurent sniffed. “I think she knows something’s wrong. We always go riding on Thursdays.” 

“We can if you want.” 

Laurent shook his head, no. “Dad told him I could start riding horses soon. He told me he’d buy me my own for my 14th birthday if I wanted.” 

“You’re better than me, then,” Auguste chuckled. 

“What do you mean?” 

“He didn’t offer to buy one for me until I was 16.” 

Laurent blinked. “Really?” 

“I opted for a car.” 

“I wouldn’t have.” 

“I know. And he knew, too.” 

“I don’t think I want one now, though. Not yet.” 

“Are you sure?”

“I want the perfect one. I need to study, that’ll take time.”

“I can help you.” 

“You opted for a car. Your interest and thus knowledge is limited,” Laurent deadpanned. 

“You might be right. But when you do decide you want your own horse, I think I can be of some help. Jord can probably help, too.” 

“Yeah.” Thinking about trying to find the perfect horse without his father’s expertise to guide him brought a lump to Laurent’s throat. “It’s so weird,” he whispered. “I keep thinking he’ll come in here at any moment. I keep checking for texts from Mom.” 

“Me, too.” 

“She loved texting.” 

“A little too much.” 

“I was - I was so busy with homework that I didn’t even realize she hadn’t texted in a while. She always texted from the road. If… If I had noticed, if I had just…”    
“Laurent,” Auguste cut him off. “It wouldn’t have changed anything.”

Laurent felt tears burning in his eyes. “Her last text said…” 

“‘We’re on our way’,” Auguste finished. 

“‘Less than three’.” 

“Always with the ‘less than three’.” 

“I hope they had fun.” 

“I’m sure they did.” 

“I won’t have to speak, right? At the funeral?” 

“No,” Auguste confirmed. He put his arm around Laurent’s shoulders. “Don’t worry, I’ll do the talking.” 

“You’ve done everything, though.” 

“It’s fine, Laurent.” 

“It isn’t.” 

“It is,” Auguste said with a kiss on top of Laurent’s head. “I don’t mind. It helps, keeping busy.”

Laurent didn’t say it out loud, but he doubted no amount of homework or riding or reading or playing the piano would ever help him heal. 

“I miss them so much,” he whispered instead of voicing him thoughts. 

“Me, too,” Auguste replied. Laurent heard tears in his voice. 

“Promise me you’ll never die.” 

It was such a childish thing to say, yet Laurent couldn’t help himself. He knew Auguste couldn’t possibly promise such a thing, but he was young, and yearned for some assurance. 

“If you promise the same,” Auguste said, apparently also feeling young and vulnerable. 

“Okay.” 

“Okay.” 

They stayed in Butterball’s stall until Jord came to tell them he was locking the doors for the night. At home, Laurent showered, but slept with the shirt he had on in the stables. With the familiar scent of horses and hay surrounding him, he slept a little better than he had since his parents had died. 

* * *

Laurent spent two days by Damen’s bedside until Damen asked Auguste to force Laurent to go home. “Carry him to the car while he sleeps if you have to, he needs to shower and eat and sleep without sitting up.” 

“I’m right here!” Laurent had protested to this exchange but eventually agreed to go home. He followed Auguste out of the hospital and into the car and promptly dozed off as soon as the car left the hospital parking loft. He snapped awake when the back door slammed shut and after a couple of confused seconds realized that Auguste had picked up Nicaise. 

“Where is he? Is he alive?”

“Yes, he’s fine. He just has to stay in the hospital for a few more days,” Auguste said. 

“Well then he’s not fine, is he?” 

“He will be. Good as new.” 

“And where’s the fucker who did it? I saw him, I can tell the police what he looks like.” 

“He’s already been arrested.” 

“Good, I hope they kick his ass. There’s blood on our freaking driveway!”

“He’ll go to jail for sure, but that’s…” 

“Can we go to the stables?” 

Because there was blood on the driveway and Laurent’s stomach turned thinking of it. 

“You need to sleep,” Auguste protested.

“Please. We don’t have to ride, let’s just… clean. Or something. Just for a little while.” 

“Yeah, I wanna see Butterball!” Nicaise said. Whether it was because he had caught on that Laurent was trying to delay going home or because he, too, didn’t want to go home yet, Laurent wasn’t sure.

Auguste sighed. “All right, fine. We can go for a couple of hours.” 

20 minutes later Laurent was braiding Hennies’ mane while Auguste helped Jord with some everyday tasks. Hennie was calm and quiet as Laurent let his thoughts get lost in the mindless work. He could feel the shock and stress of the last couple of days weighing him down, making his muscles ache. He knew that Damen and Auguste were right and he did indeed need to lie down, but there was a ring on his bed and… 

Oh. 

Right. 

The ring. On his bed.

“Damen proposed.” 

Auguste dropped the pile of hay he had been carrying. 

“Ugh, finally!” Nicaise exclaimed from where he was brushing Butterball. “I found the ring weeks ago!” 

“What?”

“It’s not my fault, he hid it in his sock drawer!”

“Why were you going through his sock drawer?”

“You told me I could borrow an ascot! How was I supposed to know which drawer is which!” 

“You know exactly where I keep my ascots.” 

“Ah, well.” 

“He proposed?” 

Laurent felt his cheeks warm up as he turned back to Auguste. “You did predict it’d happen soon.” 

“I did, it’s just… It’s different. Thinking it might happen and… knowing it has.” Auguste cleared his throat. “So, what did you say?” 

“Nothing, at first, but that’s because he got stabbed five minutes later,” Laurent said. “I said yes when he woke up.” 

“But you’re not wearing the ring,” Nicaise observed. 

“It’s on my bed.” 

“I thought he had plans.” 

“I ruined them. I found the ring, too.” 

“I  _ told _ him to move it!”

“He did. It was in the pocket of one of his hoodies.” 

“You wear his hoodies all the time.” 

“I do.” 

“I’d call him an idiot but he almost died,” Nicaise mumbled. “Remind me to call him an idiot when he comes home.” 

“Sure, I…” 

Something cold dropped into Laurent’s stomach and the weight of it made him stumble. 

“Laurent?” 

“I can’t breathe.”

Then Auguste was there, guiding him to a sitting position as he struggled to get air into his lungs. The world tilted in front of him and he squeezed his eyes shut. 

Damen had almost died. 

He had almost died. 

Died. Almost. Died.

“...rent. Laurent! I need you to look at me.” 

“He almost died,” Laurent gasped out, giving voice to the mantra now going through his head over and over again. 

“He didn’t. He’s okay, Laurent, Damen’s okay.” 

“He… he…” 

“Shh. Hey. He’s okay,” Auguste said again. “I’m taking a hold of your hand, okay?” Laurent hiccuped. “Here. Feel my breathing and try to match it.” 

“He was stabbed.” 

“Yes, but he survived. He is okay. He’s okay. Breathe. In through the nose, come on. That’s it, good. And out, slowly.” 

“I almost lost him…” 

“He’s okay, Laurent,” Auguste said again. “Do you want to call him?” 

“I…” Laurent swallowed. He felt pathetic. But then again, he knew the people he was with didn’t care if he, in fact, was. “Yes.” 

“Okay, hold on.” 

Laurent closed his eyes and leaned his head against the wall of the stall as Auguste fished out his phone. His breathing was calming down, but the cold feeling hadn’t disappeared. 

“Oh. Hi, honey. I thought I called Damen. - Ah, okay, uh… Just a second. He’s sleeping,” Auguste said. “Do you want Nik to wake him up?”

_ No, of course not, that’s stupid.  _ “Yeah.” 

“Did you hear that?” Auguste said to the phone. “Thanks.” 

By this point, Nicase had moved to sit next to Laurent, resting his head on Laurent’s shoulder. He was warm, but Laurent was still shivering. 

“Here.” 

Laurent opened his eyes to see Auguste holding out his phone. He took to his trembling hand and put it on his ear, sighing out a breath of relief when he heard: “ _ Laurent? _ ” 

“Hey.”

“ _ Are you okay? _ ” 

“Yeah, I’m… I’m fine.”

“ _ You sound breathless. _ ” 

“He had a panic attack,” Nicaise said before Laurent could answer, having overheard. 

“ _ You did? _ ”

“Not a big one,” Laurent mumbled. 

“ _ Hey. You know I’m okay, right? _ ”

“Yeah, it’s… it’s stupid, I… I don’t know. I just realized what almost happened and… It’s stupid, forget it, I’m sorry I woke you.” 

“ _ It’s not stupid, Laurent. I get it. I’d be an absolute wreck if our roles were reversed. _ ”

“You’re saying that to be nice.” 

“ _ I am not. Remember how I fussed when you fell off your horse? _ ”

That memory did manage to force a chuckle out of Laurent. “Yeah, okay.” 

“ _ You were walking two minutes later and yet I was ready to take you to the hospital, _ ” Damen said. Laurent could hear he was smiling. 

“You were kind of cute.” 

“ _ I’m glad you think so. _ ” There was a short pause. “ _ Are you feeling all right? _ ” 

“I am. This helps. I just wish I hadn’t woken you.”

“ _ That’s absolutely fine. You’re my fiance, you can wake me whenever you want. Especially if you’re… Oh. Ha! _ ” 

“What?”

“ _ I forgot to tell Nik we’re engaged. _ ” 

“ _ How do you forget to tell your best friend that you’re engaged?! _ ” 

“ _ Hey, excuse me, I was stabbed! _ ”

“ _ That’s not an excuse! _ ”

“ _ How’s that not an excuse? _ ”

“Nicaise is going to call you an idiot when you’re well enough to come home,” Laurent said to interrupt the battering at the other end of the phone. 

“ _ For hiding the ring in the hoodie? _ ” 

“Yeah.” 

“ _ He should. I deserve it. _ ” Laurent huffed. “ _ So you told them? _ ” 

“Just now.” 

“ _ How did they take it? _ ” 

“Nicaise thought it was about time. Auguste dropped a pile of hay.” 

“ _ Better than Nik, then. _ ” 

“Is he sulking?” 

“ _ He’s very good at it. _ ” 

“I’m sure.” 

“ _ So what do we want? City Hall, or a big ass country club wedding? _ ”

“Do we know enough people for a big ass country club wedding?” 

“ _ I have 29 cousins _ .  _ They all have families. _ ” 

“And how many of them do you actually know?” 

“ _ 29. _ ” 

“You’re not serious.” 

“ _ I am. _ ” 

“You want to invite them all?” 

“ _ No. That’s why I’m hoping you’ll say City Hall. _ ” 

“Oh, thank God!” 

“ _ City Hall, then? _ ” 

“If you don’t mind.” 

“ _ Not at all. We’ll make a day of it. _ ”

“Nicaise will demand cake.” 

“Damn straight.”

“ _Okay so._ _We’ll get married at the City Hall, go have dinner someplace nice…_ ” 

“Louisa’s.” 

“ _ Yes. And we’ll order a huge wedding cake that we’ll eat at home for dessert. _ ”

“Huh. I wonder why people stress about planning a wedding. That took 4 minutes.” 

“ _ We should get married often, then. We’re clearly good at it. _ ”

“You’re trying to make me laugh.” 

“ _ Is it working?” _

_ “ _ I’m getting there _. _ ”

“ _ Good. I love you. _ ”

“I love you, too.”

“ _ Are you going to be okay now? I’d stay on the phone but it’s hard to keep my eyes open. _ ”

“Go to sleep. I’ll come by tomorrow.”

“ _ Are you okay, Laurent? _ ”

“Yes. Yes, Damen, I’m okay.” 

“ _ Okay. Good. _ ” 

“Good night,” Laurent said. Damen sighed as a reply and Laurent ended the call feeling warmer and lighter. “We can go home now.” 

On the way home, Laurent listened to Nicaise listing all the kinds of cakes he liked and what he definitely wouldn’t approve. By the time Auguste turned the car to the driveway, Laurent had almost - not quite, but almost - forgotten that no one had been to clean it yet. He ignored the stains the best he could and quietly asked Auguste to call the cleaning service to get rid of it as soon as possible. 

His room was just as he had left it, including the box which had his engagement ring in it in the middle of the bed. He opened it, and broke into a full smile. The ring was perfect. They were engaged. He was getting married. 

Still, he decided he wanted Damen to put it on his finger. He placed the box on his nightstand, and fell on the bed without bothering to take the covers off. He was asleep in a matter of minutes, Damen’s voice in his ears and the smell of horses around him. 


	9. Part 8

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Missing scenes. No warnings.

“So.”

“Yeah.”

“Auguste has a kid.”

“Apparently.”

“And how do we feel about that?”

Nikandros shrugged. “It’s fine.”

“It’s fine?”

“What? I don’t know! I really like him! That fact that he’s a package deal doesn’t change that.”

“Honestly, I think the fact that you’re not running for the hills suggests that you don’t just like him.”

“I’m not scared of kids.”

“Mmhm.”

“Oh, screw you. And I’m not in love with him. We’ve been on three dates, for crying out loud.”

“Three dates is plenty. I’ve known Laurent for two hours and I’ve decided he’s my future husband.”

“...what did you do when you left the kitchen?”

Damen grinned.

“No. No, Damen, no, god _damn_ it with you!”

“What?”

“You did not fuck my boyfriend’s little brother while we were in the next room! While my boyfriend’s _kid_ was in the next in the room!”

“Of course I didn’t, Jesus!”

“Thank God…”

“We just made out.”

“Damen!”

“He initiated it!”

“Fuck that, don’t you have any will power?”

“Why would I have stopped him?”

“Uh, because he’s your best friend’s boyfriend’s little brother? No, wait, because he’s your boss’s little brother?”

“Laurent said Auguste wouldn’t mind.”

Nikandros huffed. “I may not have known he had a kid but even only after three dates, I’m acutely aware of how protective he is of Laurent. You hurt Laurent and Auguste will kill you. Then he’ll kill me for just knowing you.”

“Okay, so, I just have to make sure I never hurt Laurent.”

Nikandros shook his head, defeated. “I shouldn’t have asked you to pick me up.”

“Don’t say that!” Damen said, half laughing. “Think about it, soon we might be family for real.”

“Three dates, Damen. I’m not buying a ring yet.”

“You’re going to be a step-dad.”

“Stop it.”

“Why? You love him.”

“I already told you that I don’t.”

“I believe you.”

“You totally don’t.”

“I’m just saying: If you didn’t, Nicaise would have been a deal-breaker.”

“Whatever.”

“You know I’m right.”

“You’re not.”

“I am,” Damen countered. Nikandros found his amusement annoying. “Wanna get some beers and watch Star Wars?”

“Sure.”

“ ‘Nicaise, I am your step-father.’ ”

Nikandros smacked Damen on the shoulder.

* * *

 

“Auguste wants to see you in his office.”

_Oh shit._

“Okay.”

Damen followed Ancel with a growing sense of dread. The assistant opened the door for him and sing-songed a ‘good luck’ before skipping back to his desk.

Damen felt as if he was stepping into a cave of a dragon without any armor.

“For Heaven’s sake, Damen, it’s not like I have a weapon,” Auguste said when Damen hesitated. He was sitting behind his desk, the first two buttons of his shirt undone and his sleeves turned all the way to his elbows. He did indeed look too casual to be in the mood to kill Damen. “Close the door.”

Damen did, not encouraged by the grin he saw on Ancel’s face before the door clicked shut.

“I promised Laurent I wouldn’t be weird, and that I’d stay out of it. Whatever ‘it’ is,” Auguste started. “That being said, he is my younger brother. So, for the next 10 minutes or so, I’m going to break my promise.” He stood up and rounded the desk so that he was standing in front of Damen. “Is Laurent going to be a fling?”

“No,” Damen said immediately. “No, definitely not.”

“What makes you so sure?”

“He’s… different?” _Lame_. “He’s amazing.”

“And how do you know that? You’ve met him once, you’ve been texting for only a week.”

“It’s been a _great_ week.”

“Such a great week that you know he won’t be a fling?”

“Yes.”

“Hm.”

“Auguste, look, I don’t text people all day every day before our first date if I’m just looking to hook up and move on.”

“But you have just hooked up with people and moved on.”

“They all knew. I didn’t lead anyone on.”

“And Laurent…”

“He doesn’t try to impress me by pretending to like things that I like,” Damen cut Auguste off.

Auguste blinked. “What?”

“That’s so annoying. I don’t have to worry about that with him, he’s made sure that I know exactly what he thinks of the MCU, for example. But he didn’t do it in a mean way, like… he didn’t make me feel like an idiot for having regular marathons. He does that with Lord of the Rings. Did you know he’s like a Stephen Colbert level genius when it comes to Lord of the Rings?”

“I did.”

“Right? I love the way he’s so passionate about the things he enjoys. I love that he just stops texting me without explanation and then returns two hours later to tell me Nicaise needed him. That means his priorities are sorted out. He also doesn’t hesitate to let me know when I’m simply just wrong and he’s already managed to change my view on a couple of things. At the same time, he’s not too stubborn not to hear me out when I think he’s wrong.”

“...I thought you two were exchanging cat videos.”  
“Oh, we do that, too, sure. But we also talk about nuclear power.”

“Nuclear power?”  
“Yeah.”

“Laurent studies history.”

“Yeah, so his view on it is not exactly the same as mine.”

Auguste was quiet for a moment or two. Damen shrugged, not knowing what else to say to make his point.

“Am I fired?” he asked when the silence stretched out.

“No.”

“Good. Am I banned from your house?”

“No.”

“Are you gonna grill Nik about me?”

“I don’t have to. I’ve heard enough, I’ll stay out of it. Unless Laurent ever cries because of you.”

“That’s fair.”

“Will he ever cry because of you?”

“Hopefully not.”

“An honest answer. You get a point.”

“You’re keeping score, too?”

“Of course not. Now go finish that blueprint, I want it on my desk by noon tomorrow.”

“Yes, sir.” Auguste looked amused by how Damen saluted him, which Damen counted as a win.

“He didn’t even give you a bloody nose?” Ancel said when Damen stepped out of the office.

“You sound disappointed.”

Ancel rolled his eyes before turning his attention back to Candy Crush. As Damen started making his way back to his own office, he took out his phone and tapped out a quick message:

Auguste might ask you about your views on nuclear power tonight.

_…I’m gonna kill him._

* * *

 

“Okay, uh… What do you… eat?”

“Food.”

Nikandros huffed. “Helpful.”

“We could just order pizza.”

“Yes! Great idea! Good to know Auguste’s kid is a genius.”

“Here, call this place. It’s the best one,” Nicaise said and handed Nikandros a flier that was pinned to the fridge.

“All right, I’ll take your word for it,” Nikandros replied.

“You don’t cook, huh?”

“I don’t have to. Damen’s a good cook.”

“So is Laurent.”

“Great. They can talk about garlic together.”

“Why aren’t you and Damen a couple?”

Nikandros was just about to press the phone on his ear but the out-of-the-blue question froze him. The boy looked at him with his head tilted, eyes curious.

“Um… Well, we…”

“ _Sir_?”

“Yes, hi! Hi, I’m here, sorry. Uh… I’d like to order a pizza. Two pizzas, actually.”

“ _Of course, which two would you like?_ ”

“Uh… Number 7 and… Nicaise, which one do you want?”

“10.”

“And number 10. The address is…”

“ _Nicaise de Vere?_ ”

Nikandros paused. “Yes, Nicaise de Vere.”

“ _Yeah, we know him. Your pizzas will be there within… 45 minutes._ ”

“Oh. Oh, okay. Great.”

“ _Say hi to him for me. Have a good day, sir!_ ”

“You, too. Bye. They knew you,” Nikandros told Nicaise as he hung up.

Nicaise shrugged. “Laurent often works late on Fridays. Dad can make mac and cheese but that’s about it.”

“She sounded quite delighted that it was you.”

“I tip well.”

“Yeah?”

“Dad will pay you back, don’t worry.”

“Your tipping won’t bankrupt me.”

“Good. Now, why aren’t you and Damen a couple?”

Nikandros winced. “I sort of hoped you forgot about that.”

“As if.”

“Right. Well. Damen and I… We grew up together. I’ve known him literally since I was two or three years old. So. Yeah. We’ve been best friends long enough to call each other a brother, so. It would have been weird.”

“Did you ever even sort of consider that maybe you should date?”

“Honestly? No. Never crossed my mind.”

“You do realize he’s super hot, right?”

“You’re 11. Don’t say things like that.”

“Fine. He’s cute. In an adult way.”

Nikandros took a second to wonder if that was in any way a better thing for a child to say. Ultimately he decided that this was not the moment to ponder on that. “Sure, yeah. I know he’s good looking. I know many people are good looking, but that’s not enough. I have zero romantic feelings towards Damen and I never will. He’s my bro. That’s it.”

“Okay.”

“Okay?”

“Sure.”

“Good.”

“It is. You’re both useful. I’d like to keep you around.”

“We’re useful?”

“Damen makes Laurent happy. You can help me with my puppy mission.”

“Wow, my job sounds a lot more superficial.”

“Don’t worry, you make Dad happy, too. It’s just that Laurent requires a bit more work.”

“I’m pretty sure Damen’s more than willing to accept the challenge.”

“I’m pretty sure of that, too,” Nicaise said. “Which is why currently has more points than you.”

“Damn it.”

“Help me get my puppy and that will change.”

* * *

_I have to cancel today’s date. Nicaise has the stomach flu and Auguste is working late so I have to stay home with him._

‘Aww, that sucks :(  Need me to bring anything?’

_You’re sweet but no. I don’t want you to catch it._

‘Do you think you will?’

_*picture* He’s currently asleep next to me so yeah, most likely._

‘Will you let me take care of you? ;) ‘

_I just told you I don’t want you to catch it._

‘Your concern for my health is touching.’

‘Why is working late anyway? He didn’t say anything to me.’

_He was going to but I told him we have a date. He’s finishing some big project you two have been working on. Ancel was going to come over to watch Nicaise but now I obviously can’t ask him to do that._

‘He’s working late so that I wouldn’t have to cancel that date?’

_I know. Nik has a better boyfriend than you do._

‘Oh hush, I didn’t mean it like that.’

_I know you didn’t._

_Fuck. Gotta go, I’ll call you later. DON’T come over, this is not pleasant._

Tell him I hope he feels better.

Laurent didn’t answer, but Damen was expecting that. His stomach was rumbling with hunger, and he winced at the thought of the emergency frozen pizza he had in his freezer. He sighed and shrugged off his blazer, only to put it on again 10 seconds later.

“I need your car,” he told Nik as he walked into his friend’s apartment.

“I thought you were going to take a cab.”

“I was, but now I’m going to the office instead of a date, so your car is more convenient.”

“Why aren’t you going on your date?”

“Nicaise is sick. Auguste is working extra hours on our project because Laurent and I were supposed to go on a date. I’m going to go tell Auguste to get his ass home to his sick child.”

“You’re trying to score points.”

“No. I’m just being nice. Now, keys.”

“What are you doing here?” Auguste asked when Damen knocked on his door 20 minutes later.

“I came to finish the project so you can home.”

“What? No, Damen, you don’t have to do that, I gave you the night off.”

“Yes, and then things changed. Your child is sick, so my date is canceled, so I’m officially dateless for the night so I can finish this and you can go home. Go, Auguste,” Damen said before Auguste could protest. “It’ll only take me a few hours to finish this and send it to the client.”

“You could spend those few hours…”

“...playing video games with Nikandros. You could use them taking care of your son. One does outweigh the other.”

Auguste seemed to struggle with himself for a moment before giving in. “Fine. Thank you. I won’t forget this when it’s time for the Secret Santa shuffle.”

“Isn’t Secret Santa supposed to be… secret?”

“Maybe that’s how most people do it but in this office, whoever I find most annoying that year gets Ancel,” Auguste said. “You’re good at what you do but until now, you were going to be the unfortunate one to receive whatever sex toy he finds most hilarious.”

“I haven’t hurt Laurent.”

“No, but you are having sex with him.”

“...so maybe I could use the sex toy?” Auguste’s eyes flashed. “Sorry. Now, seriously, go home. I’ll see you on Monday.”

“All right, okay. Uh, you can use my office, it’s all here. You remember where we left it, right?”

“Yeah.”

“Yeah, so I listed what I’ve added here and…”

“I got it. Go.”

“Yeah, yeah, I’m going. Thank you, Damen. Seriously.”

“You’re welcome.”

Auguste left with a quick wave of his hand, leaving Damen alone in the empty office. He sat down on Auguste’s chair and looked over the files, happily noting that his estimate it would take him only a few hours to finish seemed to be pretty accurate.

He had just given into his hunger and gone to get a candy bar from the vending machine when his phone binged with a message.

_You are the most amazing person, I can’t believe you._

Damen smiled.

‘It’s the least I could do. Let me know if you need anything.’

_Thank you._

‘I’ll see you when the bug is gone. Earlier, if you change your mind.’

_I’ll let you know._

‘<3’

Damen grinned, knowing he had done the right thing. He devoured half his candy bar in one go, and went back to finish the project.

The client had nothing but compliments to give them on Monday morning. Too bad Auguste was home with the stomach flu, and couldn’t receive them personally.

* * *

 

“Are you sure you want to trust us with getting a puppy for Nicaise?” Damen asked.

“I know more about horses than dogs,” Laurent replied with shrug.

“I don’t really care what you bring home as long as it’s cute enough that if it shits on my white carpets, I don't want to strangle it,” Auguste said. “Why do we have white carpets?”

“The decorator said it would make the living room look bigger.”

“Your living room is the size of my entire old apartment,” Nikandros huffed.

“And now it apparently looks even bigger because we have white carpets,” Laurent said. “Do make it’s still young enough to be called a puppy.”

“This is going to be the hardest decision I’ve ever had to make,” Damen groaned. “How mad would you be if we brought home more than one?”

“Let’s start with one,” Auguste said. “If my white carpets are still white in two months, we can consider another.”

“Now go or you won’t make it back by tomorrow afternoon,” Laurent urged.

“We’ll text you when we’re on our way back,” Nik promised with a quick kiss on Auguste’s lips.

“Don’t miss us too much!” Damen said as he, too, gave Laurent a kiss goodbye

“Go!” both Laurent and Auguste laughed out at the same time, practically pushing the other two out the door. They stayed on the steps to watch them depart, and Damen and Nik waved at them one more time before turning off the driveway.

“We’re getting a puppy for your boyfriend’s kid,” Damen chuckled.

“What’s so funny about that?”

“You’ll really be his step-father quite soon, I’m pretty sure.”

“Shut up.”

“Have you talked about it?”

“What, getting married?”

“Yeah.”

“Sure. Sort of. I know we both want to. It just might be just a little early still.”

“Hm.”

“What?”

“Nothing. It’s just that Laurent has already told me to tell you that you should consult him about what kind of ring to get Auguste.”

“I take that he does approve of me, then.”

“You’ve scored enough point to be husband material. More importantly, you’ve scored enough points to be step-father material.”

“Wow, I never thought I’d see the day.”

“Seriously, though, do it soon or I might beat you to it.”

“You wouldn’t dare!”

“ _If you like then you should totes put a ring on it_ … Ouch!”

* * *

“No. No. No. No. No.”

“What’s wrong with them?”

“They are all too flashy. They all scream ‘hey, look at me, I just got engaged!’”

“What if he wants to show off?”

Laurent leveled Nikandros with a flat look. “Do you even know your fiance?”

“He’s not my fiance yet.”

“He will be.”

“Are you sure?”

“Quite. Oh! Here! He’d like these.”

Nikandros tilted his head as he looked at the small selection of rings Laurent had deemed to be appropriate.

“Yeah, okay. I can see that.”

“Aren’t you happy I brought me along?”

“I could have done without your monologue of my sex life.”

“I’m sure you could have. What do you think of this one?” Laurent pointed at a very simple platinum ring. “What?” he asked when Nikandros frowned.

“Can’t I get something with a bit of flash?”

“He’s not a 20-something blushing bride, he’s a 33-year-old single dad.”

“Yeah, but…”

“But what?”

“I want to make sure that people know I’m not marrying him for money. I want to make sure you and Nicaise know that. And especially him.”

It was Laurent’s turn to frown. “You want to buy him a flashy ring to make sure we know you’re not marrying him for money.”

“Yes.”

“We know that. He knows that. We’ve been through some shit, we know how to judge people and their agendas. You don’t have to buy him diamonds to proof that you’re a good guy. If you were in this for money, you wouldn’t have spent two days holding back his hair when he was sick.”

“That was disgusting.”

“It was. You also drove 12 hours to get his son a dog and another 12 hours to bring that dog home. You went to have coffee for your third date even though you had already seen where he lived. Nik, you deserve him. And that’s the highest compliment of which I am capable.”

The corners of Nikandro’s mouth turned up. “Thanks.”

“You’re welcome.”

“I guess I should be pretty happy that I brought you along.”

“I know, right? Now, these five are my favorite. You can pick any of them and Auguste will love it.”

Laurent was looking at cufflinks when Nikandros suddenly said: “I had my doubts.”

“Hmm?”

“I had my doubts about you.”

“I know.”

“I was sure you were going to be another her.”

“But I wasn’t.”

“You weren’t. You aren’t. That one, please,” Nikandros told the man behind the counter. “I think in a lot of ways, you brought him back. For that, I can’t thank you enough.”

“Aren’t we having a deep conversation while shopping.”

“Ring shopping. I think it’s sort of fitting.”

“Maybe.” Laurent took out his own wallet to buy a pair of black cufflinks. “I’m trusting you with the two most important people in my life. Don’t screw up.”

“I’m sure you’ll always be there to watch me.”

“Well. You aren’t wrong. And hey, if Damen asks you to join him when he goes ring shopping, you can tell him I would like a little flash.”

* * *

 

“Auguste?”

“Hm?”

“Look at me.”

“Huh? What? What’s wrong?”

Nikandros chuckled. “Nothing. I was just going to say that’s okay if you want to call home.”

“Wh… No. No, that’s fine.”

“You’ve been staring at your phone for 15 minutes.”

“...have I?”

“Yeah. Go on, call them. It’s about 8 o’clock back home, they should both be home by now, right?”

“They should,” Auguste said. “Are you sure it’s okay? We’re on our honeymoon.”

“I’m pretty sure you won’t be able to focus on anything before you are sure they haven’t burned down the house. They have not burned down the house!” Nikandros said quickly when Auguste's eyes widened. “I’m just saying that you’ll feel better once you’ve talked to them.”

“I’m sorry.”

“Hey,  wouldn’t have married you if your priorities bothered me.”

“I love you.”

“I love you, too. Now go on, call them. I can watch Rick and Morty for a while.”

“I won’t take long,” Auguste said, already dialing.

“Take as long as you like.”

“ _Hi, Dad!_ ” Nicaise’s voice chimed through the speaker a few seconds later.

“Hey, you. How are things?”

“ _Eh, fine. Damen almost burned down the house._ ”

Nikandros choked on his mouthful of Diet Coke. “How did that happen?” he coughed out, Rick and Morty forgotten.

“ _He wanted to surprise Laurent with a home-made dinner but then Laurent came home and he got distracted and he totally forgot he was making dinner until the smoke alarm alerted him to it_ ,” Nicaise explained. “ _He took us to Louisa’s to apologize._ ”

“That’s fun.”

“ _Ah, well. I had to watch them make lovey faces at each other for two hours. I ordered a whole banana split for myself and they didn’t even notice._ ”

“Good for you,” Nikandros said.

“ _I make use of opportunities given to me_ ,” Nicaise said. “ _If you wanted to talk to Laurent, he’s distracting Damen again. I don’t think I should go disturb them_.”

“Yeah, don’t,” Auguste said. “It’s fine, I just wanted to check in.”

“ _We are big boys, Dad._ ”

“I know.”

“ _And don’t you dare miss us! You’re on your honeymoon!_ ”

“I’ll do my best.”

“ _Nik, you make sure you distract him the best you can!_ ”

“Oh, I will.”

“Nik!”

“What?”

“ _Dad, I’m not 5! Geez._ ”

“I know, and it’s hard to get used to that,” Auguste said. “Okay, I’ll let you get back to what you were doing. Tell Laurent and Damen I said hi.”

“ _Will do. Oh, here’s Prince. Prince, look! It’s Dad and Nik! Say hi_!”

Auguste and Nikandros both laughed when the dog pressed his nose the Nicaise’s camera. “Hi, Prince!” they sang together, causing the dog to confusedly wag his tail.

“ _I should go let him out. I’ll see you guys when you get back._ ”

“All right. Love you!”

“ _Love you, too, Dads! Brings me presents!_ ”

With that, he ended the call, totally missing the looks on Auguste and Nikandros’ faces.

“Did he just say…?” Nikandros began, eyes wide.

“He did.”

“What… I mean… Does he…? I… I mean. What?”

“I can talk to him. When we get back,” Auguste said. “If you’re not okay with it.”

“No, that’s not it. I just thought… I don’t know. What did I think?” In a bit of a daze, Nikandros leaned back on the couch. “I kinda like it. If he meant it.”

“I think he’ll still call you Nik,” Auguste said. “But maybe he’s starting to think of you differently. That you’re no longer just my boyfriend or fiance or husband. You’re something special to him, too.”

“Oh, wow, I never thought I’d be special to any kid ever. Except maybe Damen’s, if he ever had any.”

Auguste tilted his head. “You don’t want kids?”

“What, you want more?”

“I haven’t totally ruled it out. If you want your own, we can talk about it.”

“I don’t think I need one,” Nikandros admitted. “I love your kid, I really do. I just never thought I’d be a dad. Like, really a dad.”

“Okay.” Auguste put his hand through Nikandros’s hair. “If you change your mind, though, let me know. We have quite a few years to decide.”

“Yeah.” A few moments passed in comfortable silence. Then, grinning, Nikandros said. “Want to go practice?”

“What, making babies? I think someone skipped an important biology lesson. Oh! Oh, okay. Let’s go try for a miracle.”

* * *

“You didn’t have to come along.”

“Of course I had to come along. I’m here to make sure he doesn’t pick out an ugly ring for Laurent,” Nicaise huffed.

“I can do this.”

“Yeah, yeah, sure. Now shoo, go. Got get a Cinnabun or something. I’ll call you when I need your credit card.”

“Wh… No!” Damen exclaimed. “I want to at least be a part of this decision!”

“What’s the point, you’ll pick out the wrong one.”

“I will not! He wants a little flash. I’ll get him a ring with a little flash.”

“Like this one?”

“Seriously, I… Yes. Yes, that’s… That’s perfect!” Damen said, taking the ring Nicaise was holding up. “How is perfect? It can’t be perfect, it’s the first one I’ve seen!”

“It’s perfect because I picked it up,” Nicaise declared.

“I can’t be done this quickly. I reserved a whole afternoon for this!” Damen said.

“Don’t be upset, now we can go get Cinnabuns. Go on now, buy it. The quicker you do, the sooner you can ask.”

“I can’t believe I’m getting married,” Damen gushed 15 minutes later through a mouthful of Cinnabun.

“You’re awfully confident that he’ll say yes.”

“I wouldn’t ask if I didn’t know.”

“Smart.”

“You sound surprised.”

Nicaise shrugged. “Hide it well,” he instructed seriously. “It’d be pretty lame if he found it before you had a chance to ask.”

“I will, he won’t.”

(He did, but we knew that.)

* * *

“So.”

“Yeah.”

“You’re engaged.”

“You’re married.”

“How did that happen?”

“We fell in love.”

Damen smiled, high on painkillers. “We did.”

“You forgot to tell me you’re engaged.”

“My brother stabbed me!”

“Yeah, yeah. Excuses.”

“Whatever. I’m going to sleep now. I want to dream about my fiance.”

“Go ahead. I’ll be here until Laurent comes back.”

Damen sighed happily. “I have the best family,” he yawned, half asleep. 

“Yeah. We do.”

 


	10. Part 9

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Pride.   
> Pride and a wedding.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> No warnings.

Laurent clutched his rainbow flag in one hand and tightly held onto Auguste’s hand with the other. The sea of people seemed never-ending to him and he had to fight the urge to hide behind Auguste’s legs. He had spent an entire year convincing his parents to let him join his brother to watch the parade, and he was determined to enjoy it. 

“What are they celebrating?” he had asked the year before, watching the colorful celebration on TV. 

“They are celebrating the right to love and be whoever they want,” Hennike had explained. 

“Oh.” With his head tilted, Laurent had asked: “Is Auguste there?” 

“He went with his friends, yes.” 

“Why can’t I go?” 

“You’re just a little too little, darling.” 

“But look! They have unicorns!” Laurent had whined. “I love unicorns.” 

“I know you do, baby. Maybe next year.” 

Hennike had kept her promise and so Laurent had joined Auguste and his friends Jord and Lazar to watch the parade. They had given Laurent his flag and Lazar had even given him a glittery rainbow heart sticker to put on his cheek. 

What Laurent hadn’t realized, however, was that the real-life parade did not come with a remote that could turn down the volume. He wanted to cover his ears, but Auguste and his friends had agreed to bring him along and look after him so he didn’t want them to know he wasn’t comfortable. 

Just then a particularly loud truck drove past them and Laurent flinched back a step. Someone bumped into him and then he was no longer holding Auguste’s hand. Panic filled him before he had time to form a rational thought and suddenly the noises were even louder, the people were taller, the crowd was bigger... He let out a whimper that no one heard and turned, then turned again, desperately trying to locate Auguste among all the people around him. 

“Laurent. Laurent, hey!” 

Someone scooped him up and it took Laurent a second or two to recognize that someone as Jord. Laurent liked Jord, he never tired of talking horses. 

“Found him!” 

“Oh, thank God!” 

Relief washed over Laurent as Jord passed him to Auguste. He buried his face into Auguste’s shoulder, shaking slightly. 

“You’re okay. You’re okay,” Auguste mumbled into his ear. “Guys,” he said to his friends. “I think I’ll take Laurent home.” 

“No, no,” Laurent sniffed. “It’s fine. I’m not scared.” He lifted his head and put on his bravest face, the one he used when he wanted to watch Lion King. 

“Does anyone else want ice cream?” Jord asked. “I know a good place a few blocks from here.” 

“Oh yeah, I could definitely do with some ice cream!” Lazar agreed. “What do you think, Lou-Lou? Ice cream break?” 

“Ice cream sounds good. Doesn’t it, Laurent?” Auguste said. 

“We haven’t had dinner.” 

“It’s Pride!” Lazar said. “I’m sure your parents won’t mind. It’s a special occasion!” 

“He’s right, Laurent. Don’t worry.” 

“Please, Laurent? They have this amazing Mango sorbet that I’ve been craving for days!” 

Laurent was a smart six-year-old. He knew the others were tired of the noise, too, and the ice cream was just an excuse. 

“Well… If you all  _ really _ want ice cream… I guess we can go.” 

“Oh, you’re the coolest, Lou-Lou! Come on, I’ll give you a piggyback ride!” 

The ice cream place was packed with people, but they managed to find a table with three chairs in the corner. Laurent didn’t mind sitting in Auguste’s lap, and he had calmed down enough during the walk to manage an animated discussion with Jord about the foal that had been born a few weeks ago. 

“Well hello, you gorgeous people, can I interest you in our Pride special?” the barista came to interrupt Laurent’s list of reasons of why the foal would ‘win everything’ once he was old enough. 

“What’s in the Pride special?” Auguste asked. 

“A little bit of all our 17 flavors. It’s meant to be shared,” the barista explained. 

“Can you leave out anything coffee flavored?” 

“Certainly.” 

“Then we’ll take it. Right, Laurent?” 

“Can we have sprinkles, too, please?” 

“You most certainly can, honey,” the barista smiled. “And I must say, that sticker on your cheek is absolutely fierce.” 

Laurent smiled, a little shy. “Thank you. I like your earrings.” 

The barista gasped dramatically. Laurent wondered if this was the first time anyone had complimented his earrings. That would be weird, he thought, because the unicorns hanging from the barista’s ears were really pretty. 

“For that comment alone, honey, the sprinkles are on me. I’ll be right back with your order.” 

“I need a little brother,” Lazar said when the barista skipped away. “He didn’t even look at me! Laurent, come here, help me get his phone number.” 

“He’s not bait,” Auguste argued. 

“And besides, Laurent may be cute, but that barista was eating Auguste with his eyes like Auguste was the Pride special. Didn’t you notice how he practically tackled his colleague to serve us?” Jord said. 

“How can he eat Auguste with his eyes?” Laurent asked. 

“Jord was just being silly,” Auguste told him. 

“Does it means he finds you hot?” 

Auguste blinked while Jord and Lazar burst into laughter. “How do you even know to ask that?” 

“Dad once told Mom he’d eat her for being a hot piece of ass.” 

Lazar almost fell off his chair for laughing so hard, Jord bit his forefinger to appear more composed while his shoulders shook. Auguste stared at Laurent as if he had suddenly grown a second head. 

“Oh my God. Oh my God, that’s hilarious,” Lazar managed to wheeze out between his chuckles. “I can’t believe I just heard a 6-year-old say that. I wish I’d had a camera.” 

“Did I say something bad?” 

“No. Well… I mean, no,” Auguste said. “It’s just… you’re a bit young to say that, that’s all, and it’s… something people say in private so maybe don’t repeat it again? It’s not your fault!” he added quickly. “You don’t know what it means so you can’t have known it’s not really appropriate to say out in public. It’s okay, Lou, just… I’ll explain when you’re older, okay?” 

“Okay.” 

“And we don’t say ass, you do know that.” 

“Sorry.” 

“It’s okay. And look, here’s our ice cream!” 

“One Pride special with extra sprinkles aaaand… Whoop! Whipped cream!” the barista declared, making a show of squeezing a dollop of whipped cream on top of their ice cream. “And for you, Little Unicorn, here. For your other cheek.” 

Laurent beamed when the barista handed him a unicorn shaped sticker, complete with rainbow-colored hair. “Thank you!”

“You’re very welcome, honey,” the barista smiled. He started to leave but Laurent stopped him with a sudden ‘wait!’ “Yeah?” 

Laurent hopped off Auguste’s lap and maneuvered himself to stand between Lazar’s legs. “He wants your number.” 

“Oh?” 

“Oh my God! Oh, oh… Oh no. Oh, I swear I’m not a creep! You’re cute, but I… I don’t want to… You’re working, I’m sorry, feel free to ignore that, I don’t…” 

Before Lazar could finish his ramble of an apology, the barista had written his number on a napkin and placed it on the table. “I’m off in a few hours.” 

Lazar’s mouth hung open as he looked from the number to the barista who finally made it back to the counter. “I thought you said he was eye-fucking Auguste!” 

“What’s fucking?” 

“Lazar!” 

* * *

The next time Laurent went to Pride, he was fresh out of the closet. He had been quite content observing the parade from a distance for the last few years, but this time Nicaise had insisted that he wanted to see it for real. He was much more in his element than Laurent had been. He was sitting on Jord’s shoulders and fist bumping anyone who walked close enough. He was wearing a child’s rainbow-colored stetson and a bright bow-tie. 

Laurent wasn’t towered by the people around him anymore, but he didn’t feel comfortable in the thick crowd. 

“You feeling okay?” 

Laurent shrugged as an answer to Auguste’s question. It’d be useless to lie. 

“We can go home if you want.” 

“He’s having fun,” Laurent said, nodding at Nicaise. 

“Jord will be more than happy to look after him if he wants to stay. Lazar and Pallas are on their way, too, Nicaise will have a blast with them.” 

Sighing, Laurent shifted on his feet. “Shouldn’t I be enjoying this?” 

“It’s loud and crowded. A lot of people don’t.” 

“Yeah, but… I’m like… part of all this now, right?”

“Laurent,” Auguste said gently. “You can be out and proud without forcing yourself to enjoy Pride. If you’re uncomfortable, we’ll go home.” 

Laurent struggled with his decision for a moment longer before mumbling: “If you really don’t mind…”

Auguste smiled and turned to tell Jord they were leaving. Nicaise barely gave him a departing wave, too distracted by all the excitement around him. Laurent let Auguste take the lead and navigate them to a less busy area where Laurent felt he could breathe a little easier. 

“Do you want to get anything to eat before we go?” 

“I can get home by myself,” Laurent said as an answer. “You shouldn’t have to leave just because I’m a wimp.” 

“You’re not a wimp, and I’m still jet-lagged anyway, so this is a nice excuse. Now, do you want food, or…” 

“Auguste! Lou-Lou!” 

Lazar had not lost any of his young excitement in the last 10 years. He skipped his way to them and threw his arms around Auguste with Pallas right behind him. Pallas had calmed somewhat from when they had first met him, mostly due to his solemn career as a social worker. Laurent couldn’t help but smile, though, when he recognized Pallas’s unicorn earrings. 

“Oh, Lou-Lou, I’m so proud of you!” Lazar exclaimed when he let Auguste go. As excited as he was, he did know to keep his distance, and simply beamed at Laurent so wide all his teeth were showing. “Just let me know if you ever want help finding a boyfriend! Oh, oh, Pallas’s friend has this absolutely gorgeous little brother, he…” 

“That little brother is also 20 years old so how about we don’t set Laurent up with him just yet, seeing as Laurent is 16,” Pallas interrupted his husband. “Seriously though, Laurent, you were really brave.” 

Laurent felt his cheeks heat up. “Thanks.” 

“We’re heading home,” Auguste said. “I left Nicaise with Jord, they’re… ah, well. They’re there.” Nicaise and his rainbow stetson were quite visible above the heads of the crowd. “You’ll have no trouble finding them. If you join Jord when he brings Nicaise home, maybe we can catch up?” 

“Sounds great!” Pallas smiled. 

“Ooohh, we could watch Brokeback Mountain and have like a totally gay evening!” 

“Auguste is not gay.” 

“Well, most of us are and being bi means Auguste can appreciate both the male and female beauty in the movie,” Lazar said. “I wonder if Nicaise will be our group’s token straight boy.” 

“Let’s give him a few more years to figure out who he likes,” Auguste suggested. “Let us know when you’re on your way, we’ll order food.” 

“We will. Bye!” 

“Have fun.” 

As Lazar and Pallas disappeared into the crowd, Auguste and Laurent started to make their way down the street to find a taxi. 

“I don’t like Brokeback Mountain,” Laurent admitted.

“Don’t tell that to Lazar, he’ll make you watch it anyway and also gives you a very long lecture about all the reasons why it’s such an important movie and how Jake Gyllenhaal’s ass is a very important piece of culture.” 

“Okay, I’ll keep my mouth shut.” 

He did, but Lazar still gave them a lecture about Jake Gyllenhaal’s ass. That’s how Nicaise learned the word ass. 

* * *

“You’re fidgeting.” 

“I don’t like crowds.” 

Laurent could have lied. Damen was clearly having fun and Laurent didn’t feel as claustrophobic as he had when he was 16. 

But Damen knew him, alarmingly well, so Laurent decided not to insult him by not telling him the truth. 

“Oh. Okay. Uh…” Laurent bit the inside of his cheek. This would be the third time he ruined Pride for the people he joined, and he was about to say that he was fine when Damen continued: “Here, how about this?” 

He pulled Laurent to stand in front of him and wrapped his arms around Laurent middle. Laurent’s back pressed against Damen’s chest and his temple rested against Damen’s cheek. 

“Better?” 

“...yeah.” 

“Just let  me know if you want to leave, okay?” 

“Sure.” 

Amazingly, just being cocooned in Damen’s embrace made Laurent feel like he had a shield and the crowd didn’t feel as suffocating. Damen even put his hands on Laurent’s ears when a truck blasting techno music drove by. Laurent smiled, enjoying the warm feeling of safety that his boyfriend offered. 

For the first time ever, Laurent was actually able to really watch the people walking past him. He took notice of their colorful clothes, the way they almost danced instead of walked, how happy they were. 

He was happy, too, he noted, in Damen’s arms. 

“There they are!” 

Nicaise was barely big enough to wave the enormous flag he was waving with Auguste and Nikandros walking behind him. Lazar and Pallas had joined them, too, Lazar dressed in rainbow pantsuit and Pallas in a unicorn one-piece that complimented his earrings. Jord and his new boyfriend simply looked like they were on a casual stroll as they trailed behind their friends hand in hand. Aimeric was about Laurent’s age so he was much younger than Jord, but they fit together nicely, both more prone to observe than participate and Laurent could see that they made each other happy. 

The group stopped in front of them. Nicaise almost knocked Damen with the flag, causing Auguste to take it from him. (“Hey!”)

“I can’t believe you two met without our help!” Lazar yelled over the noise. “I had a plan!” 

“Clearly the universe wanted this to happen,” Pallas laughed. 

“Yeah, yeah, so the stars are on their side, come on, let’s go, let’s go!” Nicaise urged, practically vibrating. “Dad, give that back!”

“Manners,” Auguste scolded gently. “We’ll be heading to Louisa’s for early dinner. Meet us there at 4?” 

“We’ll be there,” Damen promised. He bumped fists with Nikandros as the group joined the parade again, Nicaise in the lead with his flag. 

“Do you want to join them?” Laurent asked. 

“And miss the chance to show you off? No way!” Damen answered. 

“Damen, it’s…” 

“Hey,” Damen cut him off. “You could have insisted that we stay home and I’d still want to spend Pride with you. You’re my boyfriend and I love you, and I’m not comfortable with anything you’re not comfortable with. Okay?” 

Laurent’s heart was near to bursting. “Okay,” he managed to say, overwhelmed by the honesty that shone from Damen’s eyes. 

“Are you comfortable?”

Laurent smiled and leaned back, nuzzling his nose into Damen’s neck, inhaling his scent. “Yeah. Yeah, I am.” 

* * *

“Will we have kids?”   
“Are we keeping our last names?”   
“Do we still want to live here?”    
“What kind of cake do we want?” 

All these questions had been answered (Maybe, yeah, for now at least, big) and so Laurent was standing in front of a mirror looking for wrinkles in his clothes that were not there, an hour and 30 minutes from getting married. 

“Are you nervous?” 

“No.” 

“You sure?” 

“Yes. It’s a little weird, actually. Don’t people sometimes faint at this point?” 

“Well, you’ve never been nervous about things you’re sure about,” Auguste said with a smile. “So you must be sure about this.” 

“I am. Sure. I just… sort of still can’t believe this is happening.” 

“Oh man, I felt the same way,” Auguste chuckled. “With all the shit we’ve been through, how did I end up getting married to the most amazing man?” 

“Hey, you did not. Damen’s the most amazing.” 

“Well, it would be a little weird if you thought Nik was more amazing than Damen considering Damen’s the one you’re about to marry.” 

“Nik is amazing, though.”

“So is Damen.” 

“Nicaise thinks they’re both amazing.” 

“Which is why they’re still around.” 

“True.” 

“Which one do you think he thinks is more amazing?” 

Laurent hit Auguste lightly on the shoulder. “We have to go. You’re driving.” 

“You guys took forever!” Nicaise complained when they came down the stairs. “I was about to turn on the fire alarm.” 

“Well, I had to give me a very teary big brother speech, didn’t I?” Auguste said, ruffling Nicaise’s hair. “I take it you’re ready to go?” 

“I’ve been ready to go for 20 minutes. Do you know how many cake related disasters I have been able to come up with in these 20 minutes?” 

“The cake is in our fridge, what do you think could happen to it while we’re gone?” Laurent asked. 

“I don’t know. Rats? Oh God, rats…” 

“Our kitchen is free of rats, Nicaise, I promise you,” Auguste said. “Now come on, we don’t want to be late.” 

The city center was packed with people by the time Auguste drove the car into a garage near the city hall. They walked the rest of the way amongst people already waving their flags and making their way to the starting point of the parade. Even the city hall had raised a rainbow flag to fly in its flag-pole. 

They met Nik and Damen in front of the steps that led to the doors of the city hall. Damen, like Laurent, was dressed quite casually in neat, light-colored pants and a short-sleeved white shirt. They had opted for no tie, keeping their clothes comfortable and appropriate for the hot June weather. 

“Hey, you.” 

“Hey, yourself,” Laurent said.

“Ready?”

“Oh yeah.” 

“Let’s go then.” 

They weren’t the only couple saying their I Do’s that day, and their allotted time got pushed back about 15 minutes. While they waited, they watched a lesbian couple in their 50s get teary as they were announced married, and a couple younger than them giggling their way through the short ceremony. When it was finally their turn, their moment was witnessed not only by their family but all the couples still in line.

“The couple has decided to write their own, short vows. Laurent, you may go first.” 

Laurent grinned. “Thank you for being early to pick Nik up.” 

“Oh...kay. Damianos?” 

“Thank you for inviting me in for Chinese.” 

Nicaise laughed. 

“Vow, you really did keep them short. All right, so. Laurent De Vere, do you take Damianos Ios to be your lawfully wedded husband?” 

“I do.”

“Damianos Ios, do you take Laurent De Vere to be your lawfully wedded husband?” 

“I do.”

“Then by the power vested in me by the State of New York, I pronounce you married. You may kiss.” 

Laurent practically jumped as he leaned in to kiss Damen for the first time as a married couple. Their audience applauded, and Laurent could swear he saw Nikandors wipe a tear from the corner of his eye. 

They came out of the City Hall 10 minutes later to find Lazar, Pallas, Jord and Aimeric waiting for them. Lazar threw confetti at them that mostly flew away in the wind while Jord and Pallas took turns giving them hugs. 

“I can’t believe our little Lou-Lou is married. I feel old!” Lazar said. 

“Is that why you’re crying? You just realized you’re on the better side of 30?” Damen laughed. 

“Sure, kick me while I’m down, why don’t you?” 

“Don’t listen to him, we’re so happy for you. Both of you,” Pallas smiled. 

“We just can’t believe you’re that six-year-old who asked us what fucking is,” Jord added. 

“Don’t remind me,” Auguste moaned. “That memory is burned into my brain. Especially since Laurent decided to ask Mom about it later.” 

“You can reminisce all you want while we’re eating cake!” Nicaise said before Laurent could reply. “Now come on, let’s go, we’re missing the parade. You two, wear these!” 

Nicaise handed Laurent and Damen cardboard signs that declared JUST MARRIED in the rainbow letters. The signs caused a lot of strangers to come up and congratulate them while they marched down New York streets amongst thousands and thousands of people. It was the very first time Laurent actually joined the parade instead of just observing, and Damen never - not once - let go of his hand. 

Auguste and Nikandros had a sign their own that declared them to be a ‘Proud Rainbow Family’. Nicaise was sporting a pink, yellow and blue flag as a cape and danced to the beat from the truck in front of them. 

“I’m married,” Laurent laughed. His happiness was drowned in the music, but Damen heard him and squeezed his hand harder. 

“Yes, you are. How do you feel?” 

“I’m proud,” Laurent declared. “Of us. Of them,” he said, nodding at Nicaise, Auguste and Nikandros. “Of… of myself.” 

Damen kissed the side of his head. “You should be. I’m proud of you, too.” 

“Are you happy?” 

“Incredibly happy. You?” 

“I can’t stop smiling.”

“I noticed.” 

“I feel like I’m just going to keep smiling until death do us part.” 

“Well, hopefully that won’t be for a very long time.” 

“The Universe owes us at least 60 years.” 

“At least.” 

“So you’ll love me when I’m old and wrinkly?” 

“I’ll name all your wrinkles.” 

“The way I’ve named your muscles?” 

“That’s right. So the question is, will you love me when Percy and Anton are not quite this firm anymore?” To emphasize his question, Damen hit his pecs with the hand that wasn’t holding Laurent’s. 

“I shall remember them fondly but love you never-the-less,” Laurent promised. 

Damen laughed and leaned down to kiss Laurent on the cheek. 

“Awwww, you two are so cute! Damen, pick him up bridal-style!” Lazar said with his camera held ready. 

“No, wait, you can’t… Oh my God!” 

Laurent’s shock turned into giggles when Damen kissed him square on the mouth while holding him in his arms. The crowd around them was cheering and their quick city hall wedding suddenly felt like they had invited the entire population of New York (and some tourists) to celebrate with them. 

They didn’t share the cake with the entire population of New York, however, of which Nicaise was incredibly grateful. The evening of their wedding day was spent on their back porch in the cooling air. The cake was way too big for 9 of them and all of them ate way too much, washing it down with champagne and sparkling cider. 

“You joined Pride!” Auguste cheered after downing his third glass. “I can’t believe it. Damen, you’re such a good influence on him!” 

“It was less me than his own bravery,” Damen said. 

“Ah! You never say such sweet things about me,” Lazar said to Pallas, who rolled his eyes. 

“Yes, I’m void of romance which is why you’ve stayed with me for 18 years.” 

“Gosh, I can’t believe it’s been 18 years since we almost lost Laurent into the crowd,” Jord said, his arms full of Aimeric.   


“My heart still jolts when I think about that,” Auguste said with a shudder. 

“Is that why you leashed me every time we went to the city until I was 6?” 

“I leashed you because you had this lovely habit of running after anything that you thought was interesting.” 

“Oooh, right, I did do that, didn’t I?” 

“Unfortunately.” 

“He still does that,” Nikandros said. 

“Maybe, but I’m almost 15 now, so it’s fine.” 

“It’s more fine than it used to be but it’s not fine.” 

“Just wait until I have a car.” 

“I joined Pride,” Laurent giggled out then and all the attention was again on him. His second glass of champagne was empty and he felt nicely buzzed, relaxed and content curled up in Damen’s lap. “I’m a  _ husband _ .” 

“So am I,” Damen said, hugging Laurent close. 

“We’re married. We are getting a dog of our own, finally,” Laurent declared, patting Prince’s head. 

“Whatever you want, sweetheart.”

“Even if I want the moon?” 

“I’ll bring it to you and build you a Summer Palace next to the sea where you can enjoy it.” 

“Sounds nice.” 

“Were we ever that cute?” Nikandors asked jokingly with a kiss on Auguste’s neck. 

“We still are, darling. Just in a different way.” 

“Okay.” 

“So you’re all cute and shit but I swear, when I get married, I’ll bankrupt you,” Nicaise declared. “I’ll want trained swans and a seven-course meals that’ll make Meghan Markle eat her heart out.” 

Laurent listened to Nicaise list all the ideas he had for his still imaginary wedding until he found himself nodding off. The excitement of the day was catching up to him and he smiled lazily at Damen when his husband asked if he wanted to go to bed. They left their guests after a round of hugs and made their way to their bedroom where their suitcases were already packed for their honeymoon. 

“Will you think I’m the most boring husband ever if I tell you that I’m too tired for sex?” Laurent asked. 

“Nik warned me that might happen,” Damen replied. “Apparently he fell asleep as soon as his head hit the pillow on their wedding day.” 

“So it’s okay?” 

“Of course it’s okay. We’re married. We have our entire lives to have sex.” 

“That we do.” 

“We should probably have a shower, though.” 

“Mm. We should.” 

“...or you can just fall asleep,” Damen chuckled and it was only then that Laurent noticed he couldn’t keep his eyes open anymore. “Sleep well, husband.” 

“That sounds so nice.” 

“Yes, it does, husband.” 

“I love you.” 

“I love you, too, husband” 

Laurent was asleep before he heard Damen turn the shower on. He woke up the next morning to a storm raging outside, a full breakfast set up next to their bed, and with Damen’s arm wrapped around his middle. He smiled into his pillow, ridiculously happy that he was married, that he had joined Pride, that he could smell coffee and croissants, and that he was warm and comfortable while rain drummed their window. 

Damen may or may have not woken up to a blowjob. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Is Pallas being a social worker foreshadowing or is it not? ;) 
> 
> Also, I have never been to NYC Pride March ( :( ) so I based it on Helsinki Pride.   
> And I fell asleep as soon as I got into bed after my wedding so... yeah xD Wedding days are tiring, my salute to everyone who has the energy actually consummate their marriage during their wedding night :D


End file.
